RWBY: Royal Remnant
by Marvelous2001
Summary: Noctis Lucis Caelum was a prince born under Lucis rule, born in a world divided between Humans, Daemons, and Grimm. He wishes to become a hunter like many others do, and wants to attend Beacon Academy. What happens when he and his friends meet a red reaper by the name of Ruby Rose? Who will they meet along the way? What will happen? But most of all, who'll they lose along the way?
1. I Crown Prince

**Noctis Lucis Caelum**

* * *

Legends - stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond for recounting the exploits of heroes and villains. Forgetting so easily that we are the remnants; byproducts of a forgotten past. Man, born from dust was strong, wise, and resourceful. But he was born into an unforgiving world. And inevitable darkness, creatures of destruction. The creatures of Grimm set their sights on man and all of his creations. These forces clashed and it seemed the darkness was intent on returning man's brief existence to the void. However, even the smallest spark of hope is enough to ignite change and in time, man's passion, resourcefulness and ingenuity led them to the tools that would help even the odds. This power was appropriately named " _Dust_." Nature's wrath in hand, man lit their way through the darkness and in the shadow's absence, came strength, civilization, and most importantly; life. But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die. And when they are gone, darkness will return.

But darkness can be quite more powerful and cruel than daemons or the creatures of Grimm - mankind; man turns on man, setting forth against their own kin over power, rule, but most of all; the greed for destruction, all in the namesake of rule. Rule that was incomparable as Niflheim and the Empire. For years before, hundreds of not thousands, Niflheim had conquered most of the land of Remnant - Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale. As much as the people hated it, they could do nothing against the empire because they were too weak to stand against them and their power. They were all in complete submission to the Niffs, and were more powerful than the other four kingdoms that helped to rule over Remnant. But it was not for long until the Lucis helped to free the people from Niflheim, along with the power of the crystal - a gift from the gods to bring light to the land as an offering to the Lucii. My father, and those before him have gained special power from the crystal which enhanced their abilities and were beyond comprehension, but the crystal did not just belong to the kingdom of Lucis, but to the people themselves. With the power of the crystal, within time, the Lucis have defeated most of Niflheim. But in return, the king and future kings of Insomnia had sworn duties to protect the crystal form those who'd steal it for their own purposes, like how the crownsguard are sworn to protect the king from those who'd harm him, the _Kingsglaive_. But as kings succumb to death in the future, new ones shall rise to take their place as by bloodline. The Lucis rule their people in honour and respect, never inheriting the same cruel ways of the Empire. And thus, by trust and our resources, a city had been born and has flourished years ago for the people of Lucii - Insomnia - the fifth kingdom of Remnant, and for years, with the power of the crystal, we've guided the people to the light. The crown city of Remnant - it is the very royal city of the Lucis bloodline - **my** bloodline.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, allow me to explain. You see, my name is Noctis Lucis Caelum - son of King Regis, the thirteenth king of Lucis, and soon-to-be heir of the throne in a few years. Growing up, I was raised in the Lucis bloodline by my father, never remembering much my mother was - remembering that she had died in an accident when I was an infant, when she were returning from a trip out of the city her life was taken by a daemon, who intercepted her escort back to the crown city, and took her life as well as a few members of our loyal guards. I wished I could've known more about her growing up but there were no records of her whatsoever in the Insomnian records, no memories or pictures to remember her by, and my father never wanted to talk much about her; saying that she will always be watching over me, in good or bad, in the past, present, and the future. I've always wondered what it'd be like if I had the chance to see her again, even if it was just for the day, but it's not like there were any bad qualities of growing up with my father. Of course, he was always busy with work, ruling over Insomnia and keeping the city and the citizens in check. And as the years went by, I felt like my father had been lecturing me often; possibly because of how he changed, and I felt like he always had been lecturing me when it came to being king - believing that royalty came from the heart and courage. As was growing up, when it came to school, I was trying my best to live casually when it came to school - living in a dorm room, and hanging out (or what I sometimes called ' _studying_ ') with my friend; Prompto Argentum. A guy who I knew ever since we were kids; back when we were in middle school, but we've barely known each other at that time, until he tried to play it cool and pretend we didn't know each other once we were in high school. From then on he's I don't wanna get much into his past, as it's a private and hardening matter.

But back to me; for 16-17 years, I was raised by my dad in the crown city under royal bloodline. for years I've studied, trained, and tested my skills and knowledge to become what I know I'm destined to be, something stronger than king, something that actually mattered - I wanted to be... A _hunter_. someone who fought against those who'd oppose humanity and all of his creations, fight the creatures of Grimm and restore humanity to their fuller glory - reclaim Remnant and bring peace to mankind.

Jeez, that was a mouthful.

Yes, I know, I childish dream, and I KNOW I'm supposed to be future king of the throne, but... It was a lifelong dream I've had since I was a kid. But... Watching my mother die before my eyes when I was a kid made me realize that some people are defenceless, too weak to fight back against the Grimm, and people actually needed hope - light to guide them the way to peace and prosper. And the other thing - about me being crown prince, soon to be the next king of the crown city; it's the absolute reason why my father doesn't agree with my decision of being a hunter. He knows much of how long I've trained, studied, and honed my skills to perform in an entrance exam, recorded and graded by Professor Ozpin - the headmaster of Beacon Academy, the most powerful hunter's academy in Remnant. I just don't think the guy realizes how much being a hunter means to me - I shouldn't have to do any less than what the Hunters and Huntresses do. " _Priorities come first_ " he says, " _You're not fit in the world of Hunters and huntresses_ " he says, I could go on forever... But... Like I said, I don't hate the guy, since he's the only parent I've known. But maybe he's kinda right, maybe being a Hunter isn't the position I'm in. Maybe I'm just destined to sit in a lonely throne.

That's at least what I thought. Because today will change that _forever_...

* * *

Today was a pretty basic day - finishing up any unfinished academic work for school, and of course; A nap... You see I'm not the energetic kind of guy, I like to sometimes take naps here and there; during long car rides or when I'm exhausted, and I don't usually like to drink Tea or Coffee to keep me up - too much Caffeine for my taste. I rested the back of my head against the bright white pillow of my bed, laid on top of the covers of my comfy white bed, leaving my nearly finished work on my desk and having the lamp light on. My room was dim, with the drapes blocking the lights pass through my windows, which was fine by me when I catnap most of the time. Now that I think about it I'm almost as lazy as a house cat.

I would've been more comfortable, if not for the sudden knocking of my bedroom door. I stumbled out of my sleep, and replied with a "come in" as my eyes were still shut. The door was unlocked, so the person on the other side was able to open it. I could sense they stepped in, the door creaking, and approached me, stopping at my bed. "Your highness?" Recognizing the familiar voice, I peeked my eye open so I could inspect the source of the familiar voice. Masculine, slim, tall, auburn hair with a feathered sweep, glasses over his green eyes, and was shown wearing his black uniform; black blazer, velvet dress shirt with silver skull motifs, black suit pants, and black leather dress shoes with red soles on the bottom, and silver driving gloves - easily identifiable as the Royal Advisory, to me and my father.

"Ignis?" I questioned. Iggy's arms were crossed as he stared at me with an unimpressed look in his eye. "Noct... Busy at work I see?" "Guess so" I sighed, pointing towards my desk. He eyed the desk as my papers, books, and lamp light was; the light still shining over the pages.

"I... See..." "So what're you doing here Specks? Anymore Royal Meeting notes I should study?" I yawned, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes, but I was still exhausted nonetheless. "Unfortunately no, nothing like that."

"Well what is it?" I asked. "Actually, we do not know what it is. His highness wishes to speak with you in person. Then again... With all of us...". "Huh?" What would my dad want with me now? Father-son bonding? Some fatherly advice? But if so, why would he want ALL of us there? "Okay, you piqued my interest, I'm getting up" I responded.

Rising up from my bed, I rubbed my temples and yawned once more before exiting my room and walking down the corridor and into the elevator along with Ignis. And within seconds the elevator stopped on the conference floor. Proceeding down the second corridor, we stopped at the conference room entryway; tall wooden doors in between us. I would've continued to go in if not for the fact that Ignis had placed a hand on my shoulder and stopped me. Peering over my shoulder, Ignis had his arms crossed once more, and paused in his tracks. "This is a meeting between you and your father. I do not go on further from here." I raised a brow. "Wait! I thought you said he wanted ALL of us-". "He did" he exclaimed, "better yet, you'll see for yourself" He smirked. "...yeah" I whispered under my breath. With a nod I pushed open the large doors and entered the council room, from then on I was alone. "My son" my father had called upon me as I entered the Citadel's Council Room; where the council of Lucii tend to meet in the events of political debates or royal meetings. The room had been empty for now with the exception of my father, me, and a few members of the Kingsglaive guard; Drautos, Nyx, Ostium, and Lazarus. The Kingsglaive stood by the wall, standing guard until they had then suddenly bowed as I had then entered the Council Room. They stood guard once more, and I had approached the council table, standing before my father at the far end of the table, similar to dinner. Speaking of my dad, as I look at him now, he's really changed over the years in appearance. Now he's shown with having gray hair and green eyes. He wears a black suit with thin, white stripes, a velvet shirt and a Royal black collared cloak. Nowadays he now wears a golden brace on his right knee to assist him with his walking, and black shoes. And a silver hornlike crown on the right side of his head, held behind his ear. He's really not quite the same as he was when I was a kid. "Please Noctis. Sit" he gestured towards the open seat besides him. I replied with a nod, "of course." I had gone to sit besides him in the councillor's chair. For a few second he was silent, until he had spoken first; "Noctis. Do you know why I have called you here today? At this very hour?" I shook my head, "no. May I ask why?" "Because Noctis..." He held his hands over the table surface, revealing the ring he wore - the Ring of Lucii, which powered the barrier that protected Insomnia from Niflheim, Daemons, Grimm, and all those who opposed the Crown City. "As you know, our world is facing a great disaster to this day; from the rule of Niflheim, the daemons that prowl the night, and the destructive forces of Grimm. And as they continue to do so, the people choose to hide instead of standing up for themselves and fighting for what is right. And why is that do you think?" I had no response as I was trying to figure out what he was talking about. "Because... They want to fight for what is right?" "Precisely" he responded, "and in doing so, they uphold peace and bring civilization to prosperity. Without them, our world would be at a greater peril, one which bring humanity to their knees and into submission to the creatures of Grimm and the daemons. In my opinion they're much like the very Kingsglaive and kings of Lucis who stand to protect their people in the name of Lucis. Both hunters AND kings have duties to protect their people or they submit to death." "Right..." Was all I could respond, not knowing what he was trying to get at. Was this another one of his lectures about me being a hunter. "But son... I do not know what else to say... I do know of your ambitious desire of being a hunter, but I understand that your duties as heir to the crown is more important matter than that." _I knew it_... I didn't want to be hard on the guy, since I knew he wasn't purposely being hard on me, so I tried to be cooperative with him as possible. "Yes father. I understand".

And what I thought were my eyes playing tricks on me, I noticed, he smiled. "However-" he continued, catching my attention, "I also understand that honour, valour, determination, and dignity is thus what it also takes to be king. So, I'd like you to meet someone." I was confused at first, until I heard the silent noise of footsteps within the room, coming from the main entrance, and from there there was a man approaching the council table. Stepping out of the shadowy part of the room, he had appeared with the looks of a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. But what stood out was how he had a light complexion and sharp facial features to that of a young man. He was wearing shaded spectacles and a small purple pin with a cross motif on the green scarf around his neck. His outfit was an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt, black dress shoes and long, dark-green pants. In one hand he had a silver cane which he used with every step, and a white mug with an emblem on it - crossed one-bladed axes with a crown of laurel leaves. his drink still emitting steam. He looked nothing like an ordinary citizen; hard to picture him as a Niff, but harder to see him as a Lucian. Still, they wouldn't let him in if it wasn't important. "Ah. Your highness. Thank you for your time with me" he exclaimed, as he sat across from me and sipped in his beverage. "Uh, do I know you?" "Not likely, however, your father and I have been well acquainted for a while. For introduction, my name is Ozpin." My eyes shot wide open hearing the name. "Professor Ozpin?" "Headmaster of Beacon Academy, yes" he confirmed, "pleasure to meet you Prince Noctis." To me it felt like an honour to meet him, the headmaster of the largest Hunter's academy ever. As much as I was honoured, it left me puzzled; 'why was he here' I thought to myself. It would've been something important for my dad to have him here. "Pleasure to have you here as well Professor Ozpin. It's really a surprise to have you here, I wasn't really expecting something like this to happen." "Thank you. But... Your father hasn't told you why I was here?" He asked, brow raised. I turn to notice my father watching over our conversation, and takes action as to speak; "Noctis. I brought Ozpin here because I had settled a differentiation, and had a change of heart. Noctis, I had decided to allow you to become a hunter and join Beacon Academy." Now... Now I didn't know what to say anymore, I hung my mouth open in awe, and I was at a loss for words. Why did he have a change of heart. "Dad... I... I don't know what to say. I thought you said you never wanted me to join Beacon. Why did you change your mind?" My father gave a sigh as he heaved himself up with the assistance of Ozpin as he grabbed his cane and walked up to me, "because Noctis, I realized that I should not hold back your desire as a hunter, as I believe it may give you experience for the long journey ahead in life" he placed a a hand on my shoulder "honour, justice, valour, determination, dignity, and respect may be learned from the hunters. It may not be similar to how I learned these traits, but it is a way nonetheless." My dad had a sad look in his eye, I couldn't blame him, his father had sent him away when he was a teenager to aid the fight of Lucis against the Empire and slay daemons and Grimm, along with his old friends. From there he was claimed to have achieved the 'Royal Traits', and was coronated as king of Lucis. Guess this was kinda the same thing.

"So your highness. What will you do now? Take heed as hunter or turn down the offer?" Ozpin asked. A smile came across the corners of my lips, and I already made my choice "how could I turn down what I've always wanted?"

Ozpin and my father smiled as I had answered with my choice, "so it is settled young prince, I will see to it that you and your companions are submitted to the Academy." "Wait. My _companions_?" I questioned. Does that mean someone else was coming along. "Yes my son" my father responded, "seeing you as the heir to the crown, I cannot have you go alone without assistance. So this, I have inquired three others to come with you."

Once more, the doors to the council room had opened, and three more esteemed guests came in. All of which I recognized; Ignis, along with Prompto, and Gladiolus Amicitia - My bodyguard and childhood trainer. Prompto was wearing a black vest with silver skull motifs, black shirt with grey patterns, a black handkerchief tied around his arm, and black fingerless gloves and black bracelets on his right arm. He also wore faded cheetah patterned trousers with black combat boots with red soles on the bottom. His blonde hair was brushed sideways up, showing his freckles and green eyes.

Gladiolus was wearing a black jacket with short sleeves and silver skull motifs, black cuff on his left arm, and had no shirt on whatsoever (sometimes I think he just does that to show off his abs). Black pants and black combat boots with red soles on the bottom. He had rough, long brown hair and a scruffy chin beard, which matched with his brown eyes and scar on his left one. What stood out most was not his massive size, but his black wing tattoo on his back and arms, sorta like a phoenix's. Prompto I knew longer, but Gladiolus was a trainer and crownsguard like his father, and always helped to assist me in sword-fighting back when I was a kid, but now he says he has nothing else to teach me, which was fine by me anyways. "Your highness" Ignis spoken, bowing, "pleasure to be here at your disposal your majesty, and pleasure to have you here as well Professor Ozpin."

"Why thank you."

"Guys?" I asked puzzled, "what are you doing here?" "What do you think Gladiolus replied, arms crossed, "we're tagging along with you Noct" Prompto continued.

"Eh?"

"Noctis, I had ordered Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus to join you on your journey to Beacon and to assist you along the way. I cannot risk your life, especially with the empire out stand against the Lucis" my dad spoke. "Indeed, besides..." Ozpin had continued, "you cannot have a team of just one you know" he smirked. Guess he had a point there. Besides, these guys I can trust since I've known them for a while since I was young. "Alright, good point. And I guess it could work." Ozpin smiled once more before getting up, "then it is settled, thank you for your taking a moment of your time to discuss terms your majesty" he bowed to my father. "You are welcome. And have a pleasant evening". Ozpin nodded and proceeded to leave the room with his beverage and cane, leaving us alone. "So my son, are you rest assured you will continue towards this path?" It was clear there was no going back from this decision. "Yes, dad."

"Good. That is very good."

I got up from my seat as I approached to stand with my friends before my dad. "You may take your leave now, and I shalt allow you to spend a few days in Vale before you disparity for Beacon. Your clothing and other items have been packed as well and placed in the Regalia." "Thank you father, I will see to it that I will be there."

"Rest assured your majesty, we will see to it that the prince is guarded on his way to Beacon" Ignis said.

"We'll keep an eye on him if it's the last thing we do" Gladiolus said. "Yeah, what he said" Prompto finished.

"Very well" my father nodded, "now go in the grace of the gods, and be safe out there my son."

With a bow and a nod, I replied "of course. Come on guys." I turned to leave the room, but not before the guys could bow to my father once more and leave with me. "Aw yeah man! I can't believe it! Beacon Academy" Prompto giddily exclaimed as we walked, "yep, can't wait" I replied as we exited the room, and the crownsguard closed the door behind us.

* * *

 **Third Person View**

King Regis sighed, as he looked onwards as his son and his companions have left the room, leaving Regis and the Kingsglaive alone. "May the best of favour be in your hands, my son" he whispered under his breathe.


	2. II From Dust Till Dawn

**Noctis Lucis Caelum**

* * *

"Well... Princes will be princes" Prompto clarified. We walked down the entranceway steps of the Citadel, where two gargantuan status of maidens stood on either side of the entranceway. Light illuminated down the kingdom, and the kingdom's shield projected from the Citadel and helped protect the kingdom and it's citizens from monsters, Grimm, and the empire. Soon that will change as Niflheim is coming for the Treaty ceremony. Now outside the citadel's entrance was my father's car - the Regalia, a special vehicle my father kept in his possession. There, a few Lucian servants placed a few luggage so and bags in the trunk which contained our stuff; clothes, decorations, books, supplies, and so on. It would weigh down the car a little, but we would still be able to make the trip to Vale in order to board the ships for Beacon.

"So much for Royal protocol" Iggy sighed as we walked down the steps,

"Not like you had to deliver a formal address" Gladdy pointed out.

"yeah, and besides, what could be so wrong with Beacon eh? I mean, it's the best hunters' school in Remnant, there's a lot of cool teachers, it's for anyone over seventeen, and has a _lot_ of badass hunter babes" Prompto said in a flattering soft tone like he was trying to flirt. "I'm not convinced. Altough... it would be change of pace, and would be great opportunity to explore new various cultures all the while in Vale. Maybe I could concoct new recipes as well with inspiration" he said in interest. "that's the spirit Iggy - the Iron chef on the road. Me; I just wanna see the good challengers up there, see who's the bigger man" Gladiolus stated. "easy there big guy, we're here to kill monsters, not each other" Prompto exclaimed. "Yeah, I'll take your word for that. Beacon's a long way to go, and besides, what's the worst that can happen?"

"Don't jinx us."

"Okay."

Gladiolus responded with his hands in his pockets. I remained silent, but at least I knew the others were ready for Beacon; Gladiolus wanted to challenge determinable opponents as well as learn new fighting techniques, Ignis wanted to learn prior history (and probably ' _find old recipes in the libraries_ ' as he put it), and Prompto... Well... He's Prompto. We were prepared to leave, heading towards Vale and spend the night there before the ships arrive and depart for Beacon, and might as well stock up on potions and Dust.

We would have jumped in the Regalia if not for a voice; "your Highness?!" Drautos had called me. Turning, I saw Drautos standing besides my father who was walking down the stairway with his cane in his hand. Stopping and turning back to him, I sighed "What now?" My father sighed, "I believe I have left to much unsaid. You place a great burden on those who would bear with you." "You're one to talk" I scoffed walking besides him down the steps to the car. "I ask not that you guide my wayward son, merely that you remain at his side" he spoken, with a bow in response from Ignis in respect. "Indeed your grace." "We'll see the prince to Beacon Academy if it's the last thing we see" Gladiolus declared. "Yeah, what he said" Prompto finished with a cheering smile on his face. As much as I didn't want to hurt my dad's feelings by saying I didn't want to be here anymore, I was kind of getting tired of waiting around. "Hate to break this up, but Cor's got the motor running" I declared as I made way to leave onwards, but not before waving to the Kingsglaive guard; "Drautos! He's in your hands now."

"And another thing..." my father stopped me once more and I turned again to face him again, "Do mind your manners around the teachers and student whom you meet at the academy. The teachers are more strict and will not take too kindly if you misbehave. Even if you are royal."

In a swift thought, I had done a gestured now with my hand over my chest "Your majesty as well. Try to mind yours around our esteemed guests from Niflheim" I reminded him; remembering about the treaty ceremony. I know, BIG SURPRISE. Niflheim - the forever lasting empire who's thrived for control over Remnant, and sworn enemy of Lucis, wants to actually sign a peace treaty after a while. Kinda didn't seem right, but my dad wasn't having it. If it meant peace around the land of Remnant, and ending the war, then he'll take their word for it.

"You have no cause for concern."

"Nor do you."

"Take heed. Once you set forth, you cannot turn back"

"You think I would?" I questioned with my hands on my waist. My father grunted, and continued, "I need only know that you are ready to leave home behind." "I don't know about you, but I'm as ready as I'll ever be." I try to turn and leave, but my father stopped me once more by placing a hand in my shoulder, and stopping me. I turned again, and he continued, "take care along the road, for wherever you shalt go the line of Lucis goes with you. Walk tall, my son."

* * *

 **(3rd Person View)**

 **Vale - Noctis & Ruby**

Hours had passed along the road, in which the four companions made their way from Insomnia - leaving the crown city, and going to Vale. Hours had passed with conversations, radio music, and endless beautiful landscapes of the mountains and trees. Along the way, Prompto took pictures of the guys in the car or the outside - getting a good shot every time thanks to his photography skills. They were definitely going into the picture book, not like Prompto liked scrapbooking much. But now, they were there - the kingdom of Vale; a neighbouring kingdom of the four other kingdoms of Remnant; Insomnia, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo. The setting of Vale was beautiful at night; the stars twinkling in the night, the moon (or what's left it) illuminating the sky, and the people were wandering and minding their own business in the city. Some building had their lights remained on as people were still up, as time was different around this time, Ships were porting or deporting from the docks, few cars drove by and people continued to walk around the culturally-endorsed city.

The city of Vale represented culture and the people cherish who they are - whether human or Faunus. The four boys had finally parked the Regalia in the parking lot of a hotel where they reserved a room. They pay up and begin to relax in the four-star room. Sure it couldn't be a _five-star_ room, but they guys could care less about where they were living. Prompto crashed onto one of the two beds with a flop and arms opened wide. Gladiolus crashed on the couch next to the table and television after helping to carry most of the guys' luggages (which he didn't really mind seeing as he can hold a lot of weight. ' _Although it wouldn't kill SOMEONE to help out_ ' he thought). And Ignis walked into the room's kitchen examining the kitchenware conditions - ' _poor management of the cookware_ ' he thought. As for Noctis, he was on his Scroll as he was continuing to play "King's Knight" on his own.

Prompto sat up and smiled with glee, "Damn, hard to believe that tomorrow we're going to Beacon" he exclaimed. "Easy Prompto" Gladiolus replied, "you know we're not the only ones going y'know. A whole bunch of other kids are going too."

"Indeed! And that would mean that the ports will be crowded and be nearly impossible to board the ships. And I do not wish to waste time. So that will mean if we are to board first, we should awake at the break of dawn" Ignis proposed. "Ugh! You serious?" The Prince whined, "I don't wanna get up that early." "Wow Noct... With all that napping you still can't get some shut eye" Prompto asked.

"Yeah, I love napping."

"Don't worry Sleeping Beauty. You can get some rest on the way there."

"Sure Gladiolus. But still, I don't think the ports will be THAT bad."

"Dude, it's the largest Hunter's academy in Remnant. I doubt there'll be room on those ships with first-years." "Exactly" Ignis states, "which is best to arrive early. And as a treat to our first day to Beacon Academy, I will cook up a special breakfast; Ulwaat Berry pancakes made with fresh Sheep Milk with a side of berries and syrup. And no vegetables for your sake" he sighed. Noctis yawned as got up from the chair, "sounds great. Guess we'll be up at around six." "That's the spirit Noct" Prompto exclaimed. "Say, before we hit the hay tonight, we should head down to that Dust shop down the block and pick up some Dust." "Good idea! I should go with" Gladiolus said as he got up from the couch. "Actually Gladiolus, could you assist me with preparing dinner? I'm sure the boys could handle themselves" Ignis asked, as he grabbed a pan and began taking ingredient out of the bag. Gladiolus grunted in response looking at the Prince and the blonde Marksmen. "We'll be fine Gladdy. Trust me" Noctis shrugged, and he walked out the hotel room with Prompto, "we'll just pick up the Dust and be back in an hour."

"If you say so. But be back soon or King Regis will have my head."

"Heh, no promises" Noct replied with a nod, and leaving the room.

* * *

 **Outside**

As Noctis and Prompto left the hotel, they couldn't get over the beautiful sight of Vale. Not many people walked the streets at night, but even without the people the city was still breathtaking to many citizens, whether they were newcomers or residents of Vale, and the moon was illuminating its silver glow over the city. The two boys ventured off to the Dust shop - From Dust Till Dawn it was called, owned by a generous old shopkeep who was welcoming to newcomers, but Prompto knew the guy as he's been there before and picked up special Dust rounds for his Revolver. Prompto and Noctid chatted away as they walked down the street to the shop, but Noctis couldn't shake away a bad feeling in his gut - like something bad was happening. Little known to the Prince and Marksmen was that close by, a few black sedans had pulled in with red tinted windows, and out came a a large group of twelve men all wearing black suits with red ties, black fedoras, and red tinted aviators. Out of all the men was a man with orange hair covering one of his green eyes, a black bowler's hat with red lining, a white trench coat and grey scarf, black leather gloves and black trousers with brown dress shoes, along with a cane in one hand. He smiled as he spotted the shop 'From Dust Till Dawn' down the street across from him, and he marched onwards with the henchmen behind him. The people watched on fear and stepped out of his way as they continued to walk down the street, because there was denying who he was - nefarious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who has evaded authorities countless times, all they way out from Mistral, Vacuo, Atlas, and currently as of now, Vale.

Within a minute, Roman and his group of henchmen had entered the Dust shop. The shopkeep had looked up from behind his counter as he picked up something he dropped, and upon seeing the men along with Torchwick made him sweat bullets. Roman looked down at the glass case counter and examined the Dust Crystals; all containing different powers and abilities for weapons and people. ' _Perfect_ ' he thought, as he smiled and plucked the burning cigar out of his mouth. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" He signalled one of his men to point a pistol at the shopkeep, who raised his hands in surrender and fear. "P-Please! Just take my lien and leave!" "Shh shh shh shh. Calm down. We're not here to take your money. Grab the dust" he ordered his men, who opened the black case and grabbed a few canisters out; walking towards the Dust dispensers and started filling the canisters with Dust shards.

Another henchmen grabbed an empty case and placed it on the counter. "Crystals. Burn, uncut" he ordered as the shopkeep had nodded, scared, and started placing Dust crystals in the case hastily. Roman continued to smoke his cigar with a smirk on his face as he watched the men go to work; filling the canisters with Dust and the shopkeep's packing the case with Dust crystals. And without warning, the door behind them had opened with a ringing bell as two boys entered the shop oblivious to the unknown robbery. Noctis and Prompto had walked into a grim situation as of now. "We're just here to pick up the Dust and leave..." The blonde's voice trailed off as they had now noticed the ongoing robbery happening, and before they could possibly make a move, one of the goons besides the door raised a gun at the Insomnian prince's head. Noctis and Prompto couldn't make move to summon their weapons, not with a gun pointed to their heads, so they surrendered with hands in the air.

"Hey boss! Looks like we have a couple of unwelcome visitors her boss. And a royal one from Insomnia too!" Roman turned and faced the prince with a smirk on his face. "Well well well, if it isn't Prince Noctis! All the way out here in Vale! This is quite the coincidence" he cackled. Noctis easily recognized the man as Roman Torchwick, who had evaded authorities countless times around the kingdoms, at which point King Regis had contacted the other kingdoms of Remnant in search for him and bring him to justice. "Roman Torchwick! Should've known some crook like you would come along."

"And what so brings you here to Vale, hm?" He asked in a menacing tone. "None of your damned business! How about you beat it before I beat you!"

"Hush now! I'm busy if you haven't noticed" Roman turned back around to the counter and snatched a red Dust crystal out of the shopkeep's hand and examined the crystal. Noctis and Prompto had been shoved against the wall with their hands behind their heads with the gun still pointed at them.

Over by the dispensers, one of the men was about to fill a canister with Dust until he grit his teeth as he noticed a girl standing over by the magazines with a red hooded cloak over her head, reading a weapons magazine. She was oblivious to robbery as well as she continued to read. The goon dropped the canister and unsheathed his red blade. "Alright kid! Put your hands where I can see them!" No response whatsoever as the girl continued to ignore him. "Hey! I said hands in the air! You got a death wish or something?!" He approached her and pulled her hood down, earning the girl's attention as she peered over her shoulder with headphones on - the song This Will be the Day playing. The man pointed to his ears indicating her headphone. Understanding him she took off her headphones with the music continuously playing.

"Yes?"

"I said put your hands in the air! Now!"

"Are you... Robbing me?"

"Yes!"

"Oooh..." She spoke with a grin, and with a sudden movement to the man's surprise she knocked him all the way across the room and knocked him out unconscious. The men looked in awe and surprise, as well as Prompto and Noctis. Roman only turned his head to see the commotion, and then signalled one of his men to take care of the situation. He took action and had pointed his gun at her and ordered "FREEZE!"

Seconds later, Noctis and Prompto dodge out of the way as the girl launches out through the store window with the goon. The others look out and watch as the girl stands over the fallen goon, and is now standing with a large transforming rifle - turned into a scythe. She was wearing a black blouse with red lacing, along with a large red cloak with a hood held by cross-shaped pins, and a black belt with a silver rose buckle and ammo pouch, along with black leggings fading to red that led to her black and red boots. She had pale complex skin, silver eyes, and short black hair that faded to red highlights. Despite her age, she looked dangerous, intimidating, and adorable.

The girl smiled as the moonlight gleams over her silver eyes, and with a swift swirl of her scythe she slammed the blade down and pointed her weapon at them. With her headphones in her hand she turned it off and everyone was silent. Even Noctis and Prompto as well as they hid and watched the action unfold before them. ' _What the... Who... Who is she?_ ' Noctis thought to himself. He was in awe of how determined and scary she looked despite her age, and how she had such a weapon like that.

"Okay... Get her" Roman ordered his men. The men rushed out through the door. Two henchmen run at her as she spins around her scythe and kicks the first henchman in the face and he falls, the other tries to circle around her and get a shot but she counters him as she points the blade of her scythe back and fires her weapon to which she spun around and knocked the guy back, and lands the butt of her scythe atop another. She was doing fine so far until one of the men behind her had kicked her back and knocked her down to her knees and stumbled. He picked her up by grabbing a fistful of her hair and bringing her to her knees, and grabbed his pistol out from his holster. He pointed the gun at her and smirked, "nice try Little Red Riding Hood. But you're done for." Noctis and Prompto could only watch in horror as the girl was now defenceless and had a gun to her head. Noctis couldn't just sit by and watch this. ' _A king's duty is to protect his people_ ' he thought, remembering one of his father's many lectures, and he'll live up to that. So he summoned his Engine Blade, and tossed his sword towards the henchmen, who was knocked back by the butt of Noctis' Engine Blade, saving the girl. She picked up her scythe and took Noctis' hand as he helped her up. Now the hooded scythe-wielding reaper and the crown prince now stood side-by-side with their weapons in their hands.

"NOCT!" Prompto called out to his friend, trying to get his attention. Noctis turned and noticed that a black sedan had pulled in down the street and out came three more men with red blades. They gripped the handles of their weapons ready, but Prompto had stepped in in front of them and summoned his six-shot revolver. Prompto had a special semblance in which he could pinpoint weaknesses quickly and react quickly - a true marksmen. In a swift action Prompto shot three shots at the handles of the blades of the charging men - knocking them out of their hands, and firing the last three shots into the knees of the men I mobilizing them as they fell to the ground. Prompto blew the smoke out from his revolver and desummon his gun away. He nodded with a smirk, and grouped up back with Noctis.

They turned and faced Roman Torchwick who was now standing outside of the shop besides his fallen men with a look of disappointment.

"Well, I suppose this was a very eventful evening. Saving damsels in distress now? Quite surprising! However, as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this-" the tip of his cane flipped open, "-is where we part ways." His cane had shot out an explosive projectile hurtling towards them. The girl pointed her scythe downwards as she fired her weapon and shot her upwards into the air, and Noctis had warped to the side avoiding the blast, and Prompto rolled to the side. As they recovered, where Roman was standing he wasn't there anymore. They looked around and had located Torchwick as he was fleeing up the ladder on the side of a tall building with the cases of Dusts he stole. "Do you mind if I go after him?" She asked the shopkeep, who responded with a "uh huh." She grabbed her scythe and had started chasing after the criminal. Noctis did the same as he had started going after him and tossed his blade towards the roof the building and warped towards it. The girl launched herself up with a shot of her scythe and landed next to the prince. "Hey!" She called, stopping Roman in his tracks, "give up Torchwick" Noctis continued.

" _You persistent little brats..._ " Roman sighed. Suddenly a large ship had flown in as it gained altitude and had opened the side for Roman as he climbed in. He turned and grabbed the red Dust crystals with a menacing smile. "It's the end of the line Little Red and Prince Charming!" Tossing the crystal down, Torchwick pointed his cane towards it and shot a projectile at it, causing a large burning cloud of red to form around them - surely killing them.

But it didn't...

"WHOA-OH-OH...! Hm?" The cloud of burning dust cleared and he noticed that they were not burnt to death, but instead were shielded by a glowing purple field, but what really stood out was a woman who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere who was creating the shield. She appeared to be a middle-aged woman with very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, pale skin,bright green eyes and a pair of ovular glasses. She wore a white long-sleeved sweater with a black corset and golden cuffs on her wrists, a black pencil skirt with brown stockings and black high-heeled boots. She also had a black and purple cape held with bronze pins which ended in a flame and arrow-like pattern, and green emerald earrings. She projected the shield with her black riding crop, and as the moment of silence breaks, she pushes her glasses up closer to her eyes and waves her crop and shoots off purple streaks of light which blast the ship and knocking Roman off his balance as he remained in the ship. He had been able to get to the cockpit where the pilot tried to regain control over the ship.

"A huntress is on us!" The woman had left the controls to Roman as she got up to handle the situation, leaving him to pilot the aircraft. The blonde huntress had now used her riding crop to summon a dark cloud over the ship; raining shards of hale down on the ship and nearly stabbing Roman as he dodged the projectile. But now standing at the cargo door before them was a woman wearing a red elegant dress with glowing yellow accents, a blue feather accessory on her hip, and dark glass high-heeled shoes. However, shadow covered her face except for her illuminating amber eyes. The woman in red begins to fire bursts of fire at the Huntress, but she blocks the blasts, and they reform behind her and explode to the woman's will. But the huntress had countered it as the debris from the blast glows purple to the huntress' power and had formed a large shard of debris and with a flick of her wrist the shard hurtles towards the shop to where the woman tries firing at it but fails. Roman tried to steer it away but the aircraft's roof had been hit with the debris, and we're now circling around the ship entrapping it. The woman in red regains her balance as she creates a blast of heat around her and destroys the concrete shards to ashes and bits.

Noctis was getting tired of all this and wanted to deal with her once and for all. He summoned his Engine Blade but was stopped by the huntress as she lowered his sword with her crop, and shook her head. But as for the hooded girl, she transformed her scythe back into a rifle and begins firing shots at the ship to no avail as the woman deflected the shots with her bare hands. And with a flick of her hands she had summoned another blast of fire where the huntress had pushed Noctis and the girl out of the explosion and into safety, but as she looked up, the cargo doors closed and the ship had taken off - Roman had gotten away again. But who was that woman with him on that ship? Prompto suddenly showed up as he climbed the ladder up, and stood besides Noctis. He desummoned his sword and sighed, ' _DAMMIT! He got away! Again!_ ' He thought.

"You're a huntress?" The young girl asked the huntress. The woman turned to the girl with a sneer, but she showed no fear; instead she smiled in excitement with a gleam in her silver eyes. "Can I have your autograph?!"


	3. III Ruby Rose

**Ruby Rose**

* * *

Welp! This wasn't how I expected my evening to be. Here I was; a sixteen-year-old taking her time out of Signal to come to Vale and wish her big sister a goodbye as she was leaving for Beacon Academy. You see, my older sister Yang was accepted into the hunters academy - Beacon Academy near Vale and my dad and Uncle Qrow allowed me to leave Signal for a little while and stay with Yang to wish her goodbyes.

But yet when I was at that Dust shop - From Dust Till Dawn, reading the latest weapons magazine, I tried to prevent a robbery from that Roman Torchwick guy, until I was saved by two guys; one was blonde with blue eyes and freckles, and the other with black messy hair and crystalline blue eyes. The black-haired boy saved me from getting shot by one of Torchwick's goons, and the other stopped more from coming towards us with his revolver. I couldn't help but really admire their weapons - the black-haired boy held a large sword that was part sword, and part engine like a car engine, and the blonde-haired boy had a silver six-shot revolver that fired swiftly. And what amazes me was that they could summon their weapons out of thin air, while I couldn't which I was really jealous of. But it was still amazing, powerful, mysterious, and I could go on forever but I still can't help but admire their weapons. I didn't know them, but there was a lot of power around the black-haired boy, and he looked so familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

Anyways... We were taken into the interrogation room and I was stripped of Crescent Rose as we were taken in, and I was seated besides the black-haired boy who sat besides the blonde-haired boy. We sat in silence for a few minutes as one of the policemen had told us to wait and left the room. Seconds had passed in silence and I broke the silence. "Hey... I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose" I introduced myself as I raised a hand out for a shake. The blonde boy responded with a shake and a smile and replied "I'm Prompto. Prompto Argentum." Prompto let go and I offered my hand to the black-haired boy. Despite being an awesome fighter, he really wasn't emotional. He shook my hand and replied "Noctis." Noctis... _Noctis_... NOCTIS! I knew that name sounded familiar, and he looked familiar! "Wait...! _Noctis_? Are you _the_ Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum? Son of King Regis and future king of Insomnia?"

"Uh... yeah. I-I guess" he raised a brow. I-I... I couldn't believe it... Here I was, in an interrogation room... With the PRINCE OF LUCIS! No way this really happening! "OHMYGODI'MSOHONOUREDTOMEETYOUI'MSORRYIDIDN'TRECOGNIZEYOUIHADNOIDEAYOUWERETHEPRINCEI'MSOGLADI'MMEETINGTHEPRINCE!" I screamed out of my mind. I couldn't help it, it was really exciting! I was sitting... With the prince of Lucis... PRINCE NOCTIS! "Woah, it's okay. Chill" he stopped me in my excited outburst. "I'm honoured that you know me and respect me, but I don't like going by 'Prince' that often. It's okay if you're honoured to meet me but please..." "Oh, sorry" I sadly said as I calmed down to his remark. I didn't mean to get hyperactive, it just felt like an honour. However, I saw a calming and warming look in his eyes, and said "It's okay, I know you were just excited. I'm okay with that." I smiled slightly as I stared into his crystalline blue eyes, "t-thanks."

"It was glad to meet you by the way" he spoke as we shook hands. "You too."

Just then, the interrogation room door opened, and in came the huntress who had intervened us earlier during our fight with Roman. She had a negative look upon seeing us, as she held her scroll in one hand, and slammed the door with the other, making me wince back. She paced back in forth across from the table with an angry look, and yelled "I hope you three have realized that your actions will not be taken lightly! You have put yourselves and others in great danger."

"They started it" I exclaimed in response in self-defence, hoping to reason. "I don't care WHO started it! What gives you all the right to take action in this deadly and dangerous matters when authorities could handle it?!"

"We couldn't just sit around and let them get away with it! We had to do something y'know" Prompto replied, as he leaned back with arms crossed, making me doubt she would be tolerant of that. "Maybe so, but what of _you_ young man?" She pointed at Noctis besides me, "what would your father think if he had known you were either killed or injured?! Don't think I don't know who you are Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum, and royal or not, your actions will not be taken so lightly either, by me or your father." Jeez, this woman really doesn't take this thing lightly, even if he is royalty. Couldn't Noctis just bail himself out of jail if he's rich and royal? Noctis just lied back and sighed, saying "my dad told me that I should always walk tall and protect people in time of need. I couldn't just sit around and let Roman get away with it. I'm a prince, and I'm responsible for my actions and others' well-being." The woman stopped as she looked down at the young prince with a sigh, "maybe so, but don't think that will excuse you from your actions. And if it were up to me, you'd be sent home. With a pat on the back..." I smiled upon that supportive comment, but she returned her glare with her riding crop in her empty hand. "...And a slap on the wrist!" She instantly smacked her riding crop straight down on the surface of the table, making me, Prompto, and Noctis to retract back with a yelp of the sudden alarming motion. We have recovered from the action, and Prompto worryingly asked "a-are we in trouble ma'am?"

"Yes, I would say you are Mr. Argentum. However... There is someone who would like to see you." I raised a brow curiously, as then she moved out of the way for a man who had entered the room as well, holding a mug of coffee in one hand, and a plate of chocolate chip cookies in the other. He had silver hair, brown eyes, complex skin, and a pair of glasses, along with a green, black, and velvet attire. The symbol on his mug was familiar to me; the crossed axes and laurel leaves - Beacon Academy's symbol, and it became very clear who this guy was. "Ruby Rose... You..." He paused for a moment as he examined me up close in silence, before concluding "have silver eyes." "U-umm..." I stammered to the response, before he took a look to the prince besides me with a surprised look in his eyes. "And... Noctis? Dear lord what are you doing here? This is no place for a prince." I eyes Noctis with a wondering look, ' _how did he know him_ ' I wondered. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. But I got caught helping to stop the robbery. I tried telling them that everything was alright and I was trying to handle it, but they wouldn't have it. So I'm stuck here for a while." The man had sipped his coffee and grinned in impressment. "Well, worry not young prince, your friends'll be here soon to bail you out. In the meantime you'll have to stay here. If that is alright with you." Noctis shrugged and sat back in his seat. "Alright. I won't mind"

The man nodded. "Good. So anyways, miss Rose" he called me, as he pointed towards the screen the female huntress was holding. It displayed surveillance footage of me fighting Roman's men during the robbery. "Where did you learn to do _this_?" "S-Signal Academy?" I answered. " _They_ taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" Crescent Rose? I know my weapon is so amazing and cool, but I wouldn't consider it the most _dangerous_ weapon in existence. "Well, one teacher in particular" I responded. "I see. Care for some?" He set down the plate of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I was sure I was drooling at them. I can't help it, I _really really REALLY_ love Chocolate Chip Cookies! They were my favourites besides Strawberries, and there was nobody else who could make Cookies better than my mom. I grabbed a few and didn't hesitate to shove them in my mouth - crumbs flying everywhere. It wasn't until there were four or five left on the plate, before I thought of Noctis and Prompto if they wanted some. "Hey Noct? You want some?" "Nah. I'm good" he shrugged. "Prompto?" With a toothy smile he replied "sure, I'll have a couple", and took two Cookies off the plate. I finished off the last three as I stuffed them in my mouth. "It's just that I've only seen one other wield a blade like that. _A dusty old crow_..." he continued "Thash mrf unkel krw!" I tried saying as my words were muffled by cookies in my mouth. "Oh, sorry" I corrected myself as I swallowed and wiped the crumbs off my lips, "-that's my Uncle Qrow, he's a teacher at Signal. I was complete _garbage_ before he took me in, and now I'm like _ooh_! _yah_! _Oowah_!" I began imitating karate motions with my hands like chops as I did this. "So I've noticed. And what does an adorable girl like you want to attend a school meant to train warriors?"

"Well, I want to be a huntress!"

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Well, yeah!" I answered, "I only have two years left at Signal and then I'm going to attend Beacon. You see, my sisters going to Beacon and she wants to become a huntress, and I wanna become a huntress because I wanna help people. And my parents used to be hunters so I thought ' _oh you know_ ', why not make a career out of it? Like, the Police are _alright_ , but Hunters and Huntresses are just more exciting and romantic! GOSH! Y'know?!" The room fell silent as everyone gave weird looks and didn't say a word. Especially Noctis and Prompto, as Prompto stopped chewing his cookie halfway - crumbs on the corners of his lips.

" _Right_... So Noctis" he asked the prince. "Hm?" Noctis responded. "What do you think of Ms. Rose? Do you find she has the capabilities of a true huntress? Do you believe she can make her goals as you fought along with her?" Noctis gave me an curious look as he examined me, but I could tell he was thinking about me; how I fought off Roman's men before he and Prompto came in and helped me. He saw me fight and I saw him fight. We're both good fighters. I was sure he could see it. He sighed, and answered "I can't lie to you sir; she's one of the best I've ever seen fight, I can't help but say that she'll be alright as a huntress. I can vouch for her." My smile grew hearing his comment, as did the silver-haired man's. ' _I knew he would speak out for me_ ' I thought. "Good. That's what I like to hear."

Suddenly a knock on the door caught all of our attentions as we peered over our shoulders and saw one of the policemen standing there with concern and having the door ajar. "Prince Noctis? You have a couple of guys here to bail you out of custody" he called out to the prince, as he opened the door the rest of the way and revealed two other men older than Prompto and Noctis; wearing black Lucian clothing like a crownsguard - one wearing a black jackets, black jeans, combat boots, and Phoenix wings tattoos. Brown scruffy hair, brown eyes and a scar over his eye. The other wore a black dress shirt, blazer, suit pants, dress shoes, and grey driving gloves. He had illuminating green eyes, auburn hair brushed back, and a pair of rimless glasses over his eyes. The muscular one crossed his arms as he scoffed " _we'll just pick up the Dust and be back in an hour_ huh?"

"Hey, I said no promises."

"He _did_ say that" the slimmed guy accounted. "Whatever" he countered as he uncrossed his arms and waved for them to come, "come on, when we get back to the hotel we can eat some grub and get some shuteye."

"WOO!" Prompto whooped as he shot upwards from his chair and walked towards the door. "Thank god, I'm starving. Let's go Noct!" Noctis nodded as he got up casually and left the room. I wanted to say my goodbyes to the Lucian prince - seeing as this might be the last time I'd see him. "Bye Noct!" I exclaimed as I waved for him; catching his attention as he stopped and turned. "It was great seeing you!" Noct gave me a sly and friendly smile and waved his hand back. "You too" he replied as he left the room and closed the door behind him - losing my sights over the prince of Lucis.

"Well, back to what we were talking about" the silver-haired man continued he regained his conversation with we, "Ruby... As I know you, do you know who _I_ am?" It wasn't that hard to figure out; his mug gave a clue as the symbol was Beacon Academy's symbol, and his kindling expression was another clue of this guy, because my sister Yang talked about him when she met him for her test. "You're professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon." He smiled warmly, and greeted "hello."

"Nice to meet you" I greeted back. Professor Ozpin adjusted himself in his seat and asked "so, you want to come to my school?" I held my hands as I answered with glee "more than anything." He exchanged looks with the huntress besides him, and decided "well alright", whilst she shook her head. I couldn't believe it! I... I was accepted into Beacon! This was the best day ever! Problem was that I only had two years left to graduate Signal and _then_ go to Beacon... Or so I thought...

* * *

 **Noctis Lucis Caelum**

"What the hell were you two thinking?!" Gladiolus yelled as we walked into the hotel room and slammed the door behind us and earning a few complaints from the other hotel residents. But I doubt Gladiolus could care as he burned with rage and yelled at us. "Didn't you two realize what you guys were doing?! Taking on Torchwick when the police could've handled it?! What were you thinking?!" I retorted with a glare and growl in my voice "handle _what_?! The guy was robbing a store with a gun pointed at an innocent man and nobody could've done anything about it! I _had_ to step in!" Gladiolus and I exchanged glares as I responded, before he retorted "you could've gotten yourself killed dammit! Do you know what this could've meant for Lucis or your father?!"

"I don't care" I yelled, "my dad told me to walk tall! And I did! Even if it meant dying." Once again we exchanged glares, before Gladiolus blew off steam and sighed. Turning back and pacing a few steps and faced me once more, not with anger but a grin. "Then I guess his highness was right. Goes to show you really do deserve the right as future king."

"Indeed he does" Iggy exclaimed, "you have the very prowess, dignity, and actions of a worthy king." Hearing these comments steadied me as I lost my anger and was filled with hope and positivity. I could not help but smile before responding "thanks guys. Means a lot to me." The guys smiled, before Prompto had emerged from behind me and had a hand over my shoulder - showing off a toothy smile. "Let me ask Noct" he asked, "were you doing it to impress us and your father? Or to impress the _lady_?" Wait what?! Ruby? I just met her about an hour ago and that was only when I stopped her from getting killed by Torchwick's men! Why would I do it to impress her?! "WHAT?! No! I have no idea what you're talking about!" "Uh-huh. Sure buddy" Prompto patted my shoulder as he went to sit down at the kitchen table. "I wasn't" I argued before Ignis broke it off and "save the conversations for dinner. I believe it is ready - Cupped Chicken Noodle, your favourite Gladiolus. No need for a big meal tonight for tomorrow's special breakfast."

"Oh yeah! Time to eat" Gladiolus said as he went to pick up a Cupped Noodle, but stopped as I grunted "ugh!" I couldn't help it, I don't like vegetables, but meats were probably the closest thing to that. "Suck it up your highness. Just because you helped stop a robbery doesn't mean I'll let you off easily" Gladiolus giddily said as he grabbed me in a headlock - a method he does sometimes to get me to do something I don't want to, but don't have a choice. I could barely breath as I tapped for out on his arm. "Okay, okay" I begged as Gladiolus released me from the headlock with glee, "good. Better eat up" he picked up a bowl of Cupped Chicken Noodle and a fork and sat down at the table, "we've got a _looong_ way to go tomorrow." I sighed as I grabbed one and sat down with the guys and watched the TV.

 _'Just hope tomorrow'll be worth it_ ' I thought before digging in.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

"Oh I can't believe my little sister is coming to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever" Yang gleefully said as she trapped me in a bearhug and didn't let go. I could barely breath as she continually smiled while she held me tightly in her bonding hug. " _Please, stop_..." I manage to say with my very breath before she released me and happily replied "but I'm so proud of you!" I knew my big sis was proud of me for getting into Beacon - early too, but I seriously thought it was nothing to get excited about. "Really sis, it was nothing."

"What do you mean? It was incredible! Everyone at Beacon is gonna think you're the Bees Knees." I didn't understand what 'Bees knees' meant, nor did I care, I just didn't want people to think of me as being too young, a threat, or anything else since I got into Beacon just for stopping a robbery. "I don't wanna be the ' _Bees Knees_ ', I don't wanna be ANY kind of knees! I just wanna be a normal girl, with normal knees." I didn't really care that I sounded so down about it, it's just that I could not get my mind off the fact that I had to leave Signal early before graduating and had to leave my friends behind. "What's with you? Aren't you excited?" Yang asked. "Of course I'm excited, it's just..." I moped, "I got moved ahead two years. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything." Yang stood by me as she wrapped an arm around me. "But you _are_ special" she reassured me, as I couldn't help but smile a little. What're sisters for eh? I watched around and noticed the other first-year students who were attending Beacon this year; one boy with black and purple streaked hair, pink eyes, and clothing of green, black, gold, and white. A cheery girl with orange hair, cyan eyes, and clothing of black, white, silver, and pink. And there were many other students who I could make out, but there was not one, but four guys who I easily recognized; auburn hair and green eyes, brown hair and brown eyes, blonde hair and blue eyes, and out of all of the group of boys, was a black haired and crystalline blue eyed prince - ' _NOCTIS_ ' I thought as I easily recognized him. It couldn't be... He was coming to Beacon too?!

I guess Yang caught my eye as she asked "what? Is there someone here?" I tried to deny it at first, but Yang looked towards where I was looking and noticed the four boys. "Do you know those guys? Wait is that..." Yang squinted as she tried to get a closer look of them, and noticed Noctis among them, " _Prince Noctis_?!"

"U-um..." I stuttered, thinking of a way to change the topic, but Yang wouldn't stop. "The guy who helped you out last night and you wouldn't stop talking about?!" Okay, so I couldn't think of anything to say, so I sighed a came forward, " _yeah_..." " _The_ Prince Noctis of Lucis? Never thought it was that Noctis you were talking about." Yang couldn't take her eyes off the four boys, and I was sure I heard her whisper " _he's sooo hot_ " under her breath (don't know which one though). "Well. What are you waiting for little sis? Why don't you say hi to him? At least to make up for any _missed dates_?" I blushed as red as my hood and recounted "w-wha! No! It's nothing like that! It's just... I feel like I'm not good enough to talk to him. I mean, he's Royal and I'm not..." Guessing Yang wasn't having that. "Don't worry Ruby, let me help you out!" Yang gripped my hand as she dragged me along with her, walking towards Noctis and his friends. "Wait! What're you doing?! Nonononono!" I tried to stop her, but Yang can lift weights like it's nothing, and I guess she can carry **me** like it's nothing. Noctis and Prompto were talking while the other two older guys were minding their own business. At least until they caught a glimpse of Yang dragging me towards them, with a smile and waving towards them. "Helloooo" she greeted them, as she reintroduced us, "I'm guessing you and my sister met last night? Your highness?" Noctis and I exchanged looks before he spoke, "Ruby? Um... Hey."

"Hi..."

"So this is the ' _lady_ ' Prompto mentioned?" The larger of the guys said with a smirk and arms crossed, as he looked down at Noctis from his incredible height. "I have no idea what you're taking about Gladiolus" Noctis yelled back at him with arms crossed. I guess it was reassuring that I'm not the only one being tortured with ' _dates_ '.

" _Sure_ " Gladiolus, I guessed his name was, as he uncrossed his arms and placed his hands in his pockets.

"Gladiolus huh? Nice to meet you! I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister! And you two are...?" Yang asked the blonde boy Prompto, and the auburn-haired guy. Prompto gladly made a heroic pose for Yang as he brushed his hair up, and I couldn't help but smile as I thought how his hair kinda looked like a Chocobo's butt. "I'm Prompto Argentum! Prince's crownsguard and master gunslinger, at your service!"

"Nice to meet you _gunslinger_. And who might you be?" She pointed at the auburn-haired guy wearing a pair of glasses. He readjusted them and introduced himself, "Ignis Scientia. King's Royal advisory. Apologies for our immature acting. Especially Prompto's." Prompto rubbed his arm with a shaming look in his eyes. "No sweat. Well, it's nice to meet all of you! It great for us to meet you! Especially Ruby! You two didn't catch up on your date" she said all lovey-dovey. "Uh... Y-yeah... Wait WHAT?! No! I-it's nothing like that! I swear Noctis!" I realized what she just said as I tried denying it. I was as red as my hood and I was sooo embarrassed right now!

"It's okay. You're not the only one" Noctis chuckled, relating to me. "Yeah I guess." Our conversation was very short, and Yang obviously noticed that and tried 'breaking the ice' with me and Noctis, as she and Prompto exchanged smirks like they knew each other for a lifetime, even though they just met. Guess they thought alike and wanted to torture us with love. "Seriously. You two **gotta** go on a date"

"NO!" Noctis and I answered in unison with glares at Yang.

- _The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities._ " The news channel aired, showing a picture of Roman Torchwick's mugshot, cutting off our conversation. Looking at his evil smirk makes me wonder how he got away in the first place. Guess the police aren't doing a really good job. " _Vale, along with Lucis, Vacuo, Mistral and Atlas are still on the hunt for Torchwick and any of associates of his in hopes of bringing him to justice. If you have any information of his whereabouts please contact your local Police Department. And other news; King Regis had declared a treaty to take place with Niflheim within a week's time, and are welcoming the Empire into Insomnia in hopes of finally ending the Lucian war. Within the meantime, any appointments, visits or any of the sort will be suspended due to preparations of the ceremony. And reports say the Lady Lunafreya of Tennabrae will attend the ceremony as well in fulfilling support of Lucis for their signing of the Peace Treaty, and in the meantime her duties as Oracle, will be suspended. Will Lucis and Niflheim finally be at peace? Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story. Back to you Lisa_."

" _Thank you Cyril. In other news, the Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the 'White Fang' had disrupted the ceremony. The Faunus continue to this day to protest for their civil rights, as King Regis had accepted and welcomed the Faunus into the kingdom of Lucis in open arms and established a Faunus and human society. However the struggle for their rights continue to this day as they protest for their rights throughout the rest of Remnant. The White Fang - a once peaceful organization has now disrupted-_ "

The news feed was disrupted as the screen disappeared and a hologram of the familiar blonde-haired, green-eyed huntress who saved me last night projected itself. She stood with her arms crossed and announced " _Hello and welcome to Beacon_."

"Who's that?" Yang asked. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch" the huntress' hologram coincidentally answered. "Oh."

" _You are amongst the privileged few given the honour to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is facing an incredible time of peace, and it is up to you as future hunters and huntresses to uphold that peace._ "

The hologram cut out as every student, including us on the ship went to take a look outside and were astonished with the amazing sights of the city of Vale. I knew the city well, but not like this from above. I could see the port, the park, and of course, I could even see the other four kingdoms of Remnant over the horizon. Insomnia stood out as the glowing dome protected the city from harm like Grimm or Niflheim, the military empire.

"LOOK! You can see Signal from here!" I pointed out. It was no lie, I could see my old school from the height and distance we were at, I could see the towering school that was Beacon - a hunter's school and where my Uncle Qrow worked as a teacher. "I guess home's not too far away. Beacon's our home now" Yang calmingly said with a hand on my shoulder. "Indeed it is." Ignis accounted as he smiled and pushed his glasses closer to his eyes. "Not even Lucis is too far away. Guess the royal blood goes with you Noct!" Prompto said as he placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled down at the sight before him of Vale. Noctis did the same as the sunlight gleamed in his crystal blue eyes, before responding "yeah. I guess it does." The sight was cut short as we overheard someone and caught sight of a blonde-haired boy with bright blue eyes beginning to puke as he hurried towards a trash can. He wore a black hoodie with orange inside, silver armour with black trimmings, jeans, black converse shoes, brown gloves, and several brown leather belts with brass buckles. As he got to the trash can he was trying to steady himself but failed. Guess he has:

A) Motion sickness

B) Fear of eights

C) Altitude sickness

D) All of the above.

"I guess the view's not for everyone."

"I wonder who we're gonna meet" I wondered. "I just hope it's better than 'Vomit Boy'" Yang nicknamed the blonde boy who began throwing up in a trash can, earning a few disgusted looks from other first-year students and repelling others. It wasn't until I noticed a disgusting patch of vomit on the tip of her boot. "Ew Yang! You got puke on your shoe!" "Grossgrossgrossgross!" Yang panicked as she shook her vomit-covered shoe and was attempting to get me to help her clean it off. Whilst Noctis snickered a little. "Oh get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!"

This was the beginning of our journey.


	4. AN: 1

**A/N:**

 **So I had now just recently updated my story with Chapter 3, and I know I had a bit of a downfall with the first couple of chapters with the "wall of text", which I am sorry for as I had fixed them now. But I'm now doing good with the story and I hope to progress and keep updating my story. So thank you for the positive reviews, and keep reading on.**

 **I would just like to announce that I already had this story published before on my Wattpad account:** _xX_RWBY_Fan2017_Xx_ **, with a cool cover which was made by** _GoldenVengeance101_ **so give him a follow on Wattpad and subscribe to his YouTube channel please (** _GoldenVengeance101_ **)! You can check out my book on Wattpad if you don't have the time for Fanfiction, and keep er' goin!**

 **with that said, please review, favourite, and follow me for more RWBY and Final Fantasy XV.**


	5. IV Shining Beacon

**Noctis Lucis Caelum**

* * *

- **Flashback** -

It was the break of dawn in Vale. The sun illuminated the morning sky and the citizens were waking up from their deep slumber - including us in our hotel room. I woke up with a grunt in my bed, before having Gladiolus drag me out of bed and have me properly ready for my first-day of Beacon. I then remembered that Iggy was making some special pancakes for the morning, so I was intrigued by that to get up. Of course Iggy would make the best pancakes; he's the iron chef of our team, taking cooking as a ' _Culinary Art_ '. Honestly, food was what got me up in the morning; to enjoy Ignis' cooking. His pancakes were top-notch and I enjoyed every single bite and was capable of finishing nonetheless. ' _Breakfast is the most important meal of the day_ ' I thought. With a good night's sleep, as well as a good hygiene for my first day, we were on our way. Minutes later we walk down the street towards the airships near the docks. When I thought about it, all of this felt like it was my first day of going to school... Because it was my first day of school. But it felt like I was going to elementary school all over again, and I'm sure the guys felt like that too. I felt nervous at first; seeing as how I was a long way from home, a lot of people were going to recognize me, and that this was beyond any school I've been since this was about fighting monsters, not anything about geography, math, or any of that stuff. But coming to my senses, I remembered that I made a promise that I wasn't going to go back on my decision. ' _Walk tall, my son_ ' my dad's voice echoed at the back of my head as we proceeded forward. ' _I hear you dad. I'll walk tall for you_ ' I thought as if to respond or if he would hear my subconscience. We continued to walk in silence.

We were there now. Even as we got there it was still crowded with a lot of new students, young and old, big and small, strong or scrawny. We fitted in perfectly with all of them. But as we walked closer, out of all of the students, there stood a man; old and lean, standing in our path with a generous smile. He was a middle-aged man with red-violet hair, a light stubble, amber eyes, and strong facial features. He was wearing a long, black jacket that had a white and gray trim, matching black trousers, a red scarf and a hooded, gray and white mantle. He faced us with a generous and friendly look, giving no signs of attack or displease, but ' _looks_ _can be_ _deceiving_ ' I thought. A voice in the back of my head told me to not trust this guy nor even talk with him, but that didn't matter. "Wonderful day is it not?" The man asked as he approached us in our path, with a sly and determinable smile. It was confusing why he asked us that - maybe because he recognized me as the prince, but that was doubtful, and I didn't want to sound rude or anything, so I replied "uh... Y-yeah. I-it is" he gestured towards the large group of waiting hunters and huntresses by the loading area, awaiting to enter and head to Beacon. "Many hunters and huntresses and training all coming as one to protect our future. It is quite the honour and pleasure of attending a prestigious academy isn't it? How would you think of it young man?"

"Um... Okay... I guess?" Was all I responded. The man smiled, but the amber eyes and attire of his made him look menacing. "Worry not" he spoke "you are not the only one you know. There will be others to walk in the same shoes as you, young man." Wait! How did this guy know I was going to Beacon, much less know I was a student? I mean, I was the necessary age to attend the academy, but to have this guy easily identify me kinda creeped me out. And looking at the guys' looks, I guess they were too, except Gladiolus who glared cautiously at him - awaiting an attack. "I'm sorry but... Who are you?" I asked, as the man scratched the back of his head and responded "I'm an impatient traveller. Ready to make an acquaintance with the city of Vale. I believe I have wasted enough time of yours young man." He reached into his pocket and took out a small object and examined it, before going and tossing it towards me, and having Gladiolus intercept it in time and catch it before it hit my face and I flinched. Gladiolus examined it in his hand, and I clearly saw it as a silver coin with an imprint of a woman with a dress on and her hair tied back. "What is this? Some sort of souvenir?" Gladiolus asked. "What?! They make those?!" Prompto jumped as he got closer to the coin to check it out. "Wha-?! No!" I exclaimed. The man made a gesture to the coin, and said "consider it your _allowance_."

"Yeah? And who's _allowing_ it?" Gladiolus remarks as he holds the coin in his fist, tightly. The man grinned and opened his arms out, responding "a man of no consequences" before taking off down the street. "Yeah right" I retort as he disappeared in a crowd of people and down the street out of our sights. ' _Good_ _riddance_ ' I thought. We stood there in silence; nothing but the sound of cars, birds chirping, and a large group of chattering first-year students.

"Jeez. Who was that guy?" I asked. "Some sort of tourist who's taken an interest in you" Gladiolus answered, which raised another question. "You think he knew who you were?" Prompto asked me as Ignis answered "highly doubtful, as news had not spread that Noctis was attending Beacon. Although that does not explain why he had provided us with this item." We were still very confused about the strange object the man gave us, and who he was and why he gave it to us. But we had to walk it off and ignore it for now, as Prompto exclaimed "oh well, it's our pocket change now." All of a sudden, a voice on the loudspeaker announced " **attention! Airship: #6 will depart shortly for Beacon Academy. All passenger please aboard. I repeat; Airship: #6 will depart shortly for Beacon Academy. All passengers please aboard**."

"Oh boy! Noct!" Prompto jumped up with a gleeful smile, "come on, we're gonna miss our flight!" He started running off to the ship, disappearing into the crowd of students as he and Gladiolus raced onto the ship. All that remained were my and Iggy. "Are you ready to make a mark on the world your highness?" Ignis asked as he looked down at me with a straight face, standing besides me. No need to ask twice. "Damn right I am" I said with a smile as I stepped on the ship with the others. No going back now.

* * *

- **Present** -

I could not help but try and shake that thought from my head - trying to forget what happened this morning, minutes before we got onto the ship heading for Beacon. 'Who was that guy?' I thought as I carelessly looked over the city of Vale - the docks, shops, parks, and all the other parts of the city I've never seen before. We had to leave the Regalia behind at the parking lot of the hotel as we walked out way to the airships, where the hotel manager promised to look over our ride. " **We'll be landing in two minutes** " the voice on the loudspeaker spoke. Students had begun crowding around the entranceway of the ship and were awaiting touchdown. The airship touched down at the landing area of Beacon Academy minutes later after our sight-seeing of the city. I was honestly glad we had finally gotten off the ship. It wasn't that I was bored of the sights, honestly I loved it seeing as I didn't travel much out of Lucis, and it wasn't because I was sick or anything. It was mostly because of how the blonde guy could not stop puking in the trashcan when we left because he had motion sickness. The guy ruined the sights much with the smell of vomit, but I doubt anyone else standing ten feet away from him could care. Beacon Academy stood amongst a cliff overhead from the City of Vale, over the horizon where the tallest standing school stood. People say it was the most powerful Hunter's academy in all of Remnant, but I couldn't wait to see it for myself once we boarded off.

As the entrance doors opened for all of the student to board off, the blonde guy had shoved his way through a large group students and touching land, where he had reached over into yet **another** garbage can and puked once more before catching his breath - earning a few complaints and weird looks from other students who passed by him. I walked off the ship with Gladiolus, Prompto, Ignis, and of course, Ruby and her sister Yang who had agreed to let us tag along with them. As we walked off the ship, we were greeted with the incredible sight of the academy; marble pillars stood amongst us on either raise of the stoned trail that led to the towering school of Beacon, red trees planted around the sidewalk, and out of everything was a large stone statue of two hunters standing over a defeated Beowulf. I didn't know who they were but I think I remembered reading something about them in the Lucian history books. " _Wooow_ " Ruby said as she took in the sights of the school with her mouth hanging open, gleam in her silver eyes, and a smile on the corners of her lips. The guys were smiling as well; Ignis with his arms behind his back, Gladiolus with his arms crossed, and Prompto with his hands on his camera as he began shooting photos of the school. Always cool to have a technophile and photographer on your team.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this" Yang said with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face as she stood next to Ruby. "Jeez. Even Insomnia can't match this" Prompto exclaimed, putting his camera away and put his hands on his hips. I could agree with him, mostly because this was my first time here at Beacon and I'm just so impressed. "Indeed." Ignis said as he adjusted his glasses - seeing the place crystal-clear. Just then, someone had passed by us, and Ruby had no longer gawked at the school but at the weapon she was holding as she converted to a little chibi floating self. Her eyes gleamed as she stared at her weapon. "Oh my god! Sis! She has a collapsible staff! Oh! And she's got a _Fire Sword_!" Ruby was floating away to follow the girl with the Fire Sword, but was stopped by Yang who grabbed her hood and pulled her back as Ruby turned back to her normal self.

"Easy there little sister! They're just weapons."

"Just _weapons_?" Ruby offendedly asked, "they're an extension of us! They're a part of us! _Oh and they're so cool_!" Seeing Ruby talking so much of weapons makes me think of how many magazines or posters she would have of weapons. "Guessing you're a weapons nut?" I asked with a raised brow. Ruby replied with a toothy smile and gleaming eyes. "Guess you can say that. I just _really really REALLY_ love checking out weapons! They're just SO COOL! Gosh! Even your sword is the coolest I've ever seen! It's an engine, AND a blade!" My _Engine Blade_? It was a gift from my father for my sixteenth birthday as it was recovered from a battle against Niflheim. Guess my dad thought it was a perfect gift for me, but I could not argue. I summoned my weapon and held it in my hand, where Ruby examined it with excitement. "Come on, it's nothing."

"Nothing?!" Ruby offendedly asked once more, "you're a prince and you've got a cool weapon like that! I'm so jealous!"

"Guess Ruby is a weapon's nut" Prompto smirked. "Appears that way" Ignis retorted. "Well Ruby, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asked, at which Ruby responded by grabbed her mechanical scythe and transformed it into it's scythe form, and held it in her arms like a child's toy. "Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose! I just like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but _better_..."

Yang responded with a happy smile and playful tug of Ruby's hood pulled over her head, "Ruby, come on. Why don't you try and make some new friends of your own? You already made friends with Noctis, so why not make new friends with others." "Why would I need friends if I've got you and Noctis' friends?" She asked as she pulled her hood back down. " _Well_..." Yang nervously stood alone, but not before a large group of people suddenly appeared behind her and Yang joined up with them and waved goodbye. " **Actuallymyfriendsarerighthere!Gottacatchup!Kay!Seeya!Comeonguys!** "

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Ruby asked as I watched Yang and the group of people zoom by Ruby and down the trail. I gave dumbfounded look, before turning and facing the guys, giving them the stink eye - thinking what they were thinking. And they showed nervous looks. "Um... **OkayseeyaNoct!We'llcatchupwithyoulater!WaitupYang!** " Prompto yelled, where another group of people had appeared behind them and had joined up with them. They zoomed by me swiftly and I spin around trying to catch my focus. "Where are _you_ guys going?!

"Seeya later Noctis!" Gladiolus exclaimed. "We'll go on ahead and message you on your scroll! Don't wander too far off your highness!" Ignis declared as he shot off with the others who had joined up with Yang's group. "Aren't we supposed to go to our dorms?! Where are our dorms?! Do we have dorms?!" Asked Yang as they zoomed down and out of sight. Ruby and I were dizzy and we could only try but fail to regain our consciousness.

" _Where am I_?" I questioned, before falling over. " _I don't know what I'm doing_ " Ruby said as she had fell over as well, and on top of me with a grunt. I tried readjusting myself and to get up, but instead I found myself lying on top of something hard and uncomfortable, along with a sharp pain and looking down I found that had mistakingly crashed down on someone's white luggages that _used_ to be placed neatly on a trolley. What kind of person would need a trolley? Much less a whole bunch of luggages. "What're you two doing?!" A voice yelled as me and Ruby tried getting up. Regaining my focus, I now saw a girl; pale skin, icy blue eyes, a scar over her left eye, snow-white hair held into a bun tail with a silver icicle-shaped hairpeice, silver earrings, and a silver necklace. She wore a white jacket with red lining and snowflake patterns on the sleeves, a white short-skirt dress, and white high-heeled boots with red lining. She had a silver Multi-Action-Dust-Rapier with a revolver-like chamber for four different Dusts sheathed at her hip. Ruby had gotten off of me and guiltily replied "sorry."

"' _Sorry_ '?! Do you have any idea what sort of damage you two could have caused?!" For her looks and complexion, it was ironic that she was ice-cold for her expression. I got up and tried to help her to make her feel better. "Look. We're sorry. We didn't mean to" I picked up one of her luggages to place back on the trolley, "please, let me help you-"

"Give me that and don't **ever** talk to me you pest!" She snapped as she had snatched her luggage out of my hand and sneered at me. Just who _was_ this girl to act like a little brat? Opening her luggage in her hand, she grabbed a vial of a red substance out and explained "this is _Dust_!" She shook the vial of red Dust, "mined, and purified from the Schnee Dust Quarry!"

" _Schnee_?" I asked with no response. "Uh..." Ruby stammered as I noticed a cloud of Dust floating towards Ruby. "What are you two? Braindead?" The girl continued, shaking the vial once more with a few shakes. "Dust! Fire! Water! Lightning! Energy!"

"Uh..." Ruby stammered again.

"Are you even listening?! Is any of this sinking into you?! What do you have to say for yourself?! Especially you, you little brat?!" That was it! I couldn't just stand by and let some girl pick on Ruby defencelessly, just because she and I fell on top of her luggage which we didn't mean to do on purpose. I put my foot down and yelled "okay that's enough! Just leave her alone! She said she was sorry! She didn't mean to!"

"You better stay out of this _boy_ " she sneered at me with an ice-cold stare and , "you have as much fault as this as _she_ does!"

"So what? It was an accident! Just because you're rich and a daddy's girl doesn't mean you have to walk over people, talk down on them and treat them like you _wan_ t to!" It wasn't my place to tell her who she was, but she shouldn't do that because she wanted to, and it just irritated the hell out of me. "Oh and how would _you_ know?!" She was getting on my last nerves, and I just wanted to do something about it and make her shut up. But Ruby caught my attention, as I noticed the Ruby had inhaled the cloud of red Dust and she appeared to be close to sneezing, and sneezes and Dust don't get along that well. Let me give you one guess why.

" _Uh oh_..." I said, before Ruby had finally sneezed - a red cloud of fire and electricity blew up in our faces done by the Dust Ruby inhaled. The cloud vanished and all that was left was a cloud of ash that remained. I noticed that the vial of red Dust was blasted out of the girl's hand and flew somewhere's else, but I was too busy to care as I began brushing the ash off of me - not before coughing up a puff of smoke after the explosion.

"Unbelievable! This is _exactly_ the kind of damage I was talking about!" The girl continued as she now glared daggers at Ruby, who was nervously twiddled with her fingers and had a guilty look in her eyes. "I'm really, _really_ sorry" Ruby apologized with no acceptance by the girl. "Ugh! You two complete **Dolts**! What're _you_ even doing here?!" She pointed at Ruby, "aren't you a little _young_ to be attending Beacon here?"

"Well, I..."

"And shouldn't _you_ " she then pointed to me, "mind your own business?!" I exchanged glares with her, before she returned to Ruby. "This isn't your normal school! This _isn't_ just Sparring and Practice you know. We're here to fight monsters, so, **watch where you're going**!" She only kept on antagonizing Ruby - unaccepting of her apology and continuing to whine and yell at her. ' _Newsflash! You were the one who caused the cloud of Dust because you didn't seal it right princess_!' I angrily thought. "Hey! I said we were sorry! We didn't mean to knock over your junk. Just get over it and leave her alone."

"Junk?! _J-Junk_?!" She angrily declared and ball her fist before pointing an angry finger at me. "How dare you?! You just have as much blame as she does since you fell on my luggages first! What do you have to say for yourself?! And who do you think you are anyways to talk down to me?!" We glared down at each other angrily, enjoy saying another word. "I believe he _does_ " a female voice stated who caught us off guard and pulled the plug on our arguement (' _finally_ ' I thought). We looked over to the source of the voice to be crossed by a girl - dark and mysterious in her nature and appearance.

The girl before us had illuminative yellow eyes with slits-like pupils, pale skin, purple eyeshadow for makeup, long black hair, and a slim body. She had on a black buttoned vest with coattails, a white sleeveless undershirt and shorts, black leggings that faded to purple down to her ankles that had a white flower-like symbol, black low-heeled cuffed shoes, a black scarf, and ribbons of black were tied around her wrists like bandages. But what stood out of her appearance was the large black bow tied on top of her head, and I swear I thought I saw it twitch a little. She obviously had to be a first-year student here or else she wouldn't be here, and she couldn't be a teacher because of her young age. In one hand was a small untitled book, and the red vial of Dust that flew out of the girl's hand in the other. I was still confused as to who she was, as well was the girl and Ruby.

"Huh? What?!" I asked. "Who _you're_ trying to talk down to-" she pointed at the white-haired girl, "is the prince of Lucis himself. Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum - heir to the throne and son of King Regis, the current king of Lucis and the Crown City. Speaking of which, it is a pleasure to meet you your highness", she bowed her head and smiled. "Um... Thanks?" Was all I could respond. It was nice knowing that someone recognized me, but I was still puzzled of who the black-haired girl was and why she stepped in now all of a sudden in interest of me. "Wait! Noctis?" The white-haired girl worryingly asked. "The prince? Lucis? I... I-I..." The girl stammered with pleading and wide eyes, before the unexpected happens; she unsheathed her rapier and for a second I thought she was gonna gut me, but instead... She knelt and stabbed her weapon into the ground, head facing down. "I'M SO SORRY!" "What?" I asked at a loss of words, dumbfounded to see this girl suddenly surrender because she knew who I was. She stood back up and pleaded "I'm so sorry your highness! I had no idea who you were! Please forgive me and my behaviour!" Whilst I was still at a loss of words, Ruby stepped in with a shrug and rub-it-in-your-face look. "Hmph! Should teach you not to disrespect a prince, _Princess_ " she said. The girl growled and glared once more at Ruby, and before she could say anything, the black-haired girl declared - who I forgot was there "it's heiress by the way."

She twisted the vial of Dust around in her hand and analyzed the girl, "Weiss Schnee - heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world. Being shipped out across to Lucis, Vacuo, Mistral, Vale, and Atlas in reputation for hunters and huntresses." "Finally! Some _recognition_ " the girl - Weiss remarks with her hands on her hips and a scowl look upon Ruby. So this was who the girl was - Weiss Schnee. I knew her and her family well - their family mining company and palace is located in Atlas, her father and president of the mining company was Jacques Schnee; hoarding millions of dollars for his own personal gain and growth of his company. Her oldest sister was Winter Schnee; determinable and nonetheless strong in nature and force (I've met her before). And she had a younger brother named Whitley; never seen or met him before, but he's the runt of the Schnee litter. They never cared about the Faunus or their safety when they put them to work, only that they continued to work unpaid, while they hoarded all they money. _Slavery_ if you ask me. They ruled the kingdom of Atlas, while my father ruled the kingdom of Lucis. Speaking of which, me and Weiss' fathers never got along much to not at all. My dad saw the Faunus as humble people and he sees that humans and Faunus are equal beings, while Jacques saw the Faunus as nothing of the sort and that they were nothing more but animals underneath their heels. Whilst the black-haired girl mentioned who she was, there was one thing she was missing. "The **same** company infamous for their controversial labour forces, and questionable business partners." There it is! "Wha-?! How dare you! The nerve of..." Weiss stumbled while Ruby chuckled. She scowled at the girl before aggressively yanking the dropped Dust vial out of her hand and stormed off. I saw a pattern of a snowflake imprinted on the back of her jacket, which was easy to tell as the Schnee family crest. "Ugh!"

"I promise I'll make this up to you" Ruby called out. "Don't sweat it Ruby" I assured her, "some people have their good and bad days. She? She probably has a bad one. Either that or she's a hot head. Or **cold** in her case." She smiled as she's gotten over her griev and chuckled at my little joke there, although it was pretty bad. She got over her grief and recovered. "Yeah. I guess so... So! What do you want to-" she wanted to ask the girl, but instead we saw her turn and walk away casually.

Ruby had an upset look in her eyes once more until seconds later she had crumpled to her knees and lied on the ground. Concerned for her, I asked "Ruby? You okay?"

"Yeah... I'm just... Down, I guess."

"About what?

"Everything. My whole life turned upside down and now I'm here."

"But that's a good thing" I assured her.

"Yeah, but I couldn't bring my old friends with me to Beacon, and I was _really_ looking forward to making a team with them after I graduated Signal. Then I got pushed ahead early two years and had to abandon them. I mean... It's nice that I could probably be on the same team with my sister, but it wouldn't be the same without them. And now I have to make **new** friends and I can't." I thought back to the airship when the guys introduced themselves to Ruby and her sister Yang, and I thought how that was like making new friends. "You have _me_ , and Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis though."

"Yeah, but those are **your** friends" Ruby pointed out, "even though I don't want to admit it, I _want_ to make new friends but I can't. You saw Weiss. And then that girl. They didn't want anything to do with me so what's the point. _Welcome to Beacon_." Ruby was really let down, having no friends or anybody to hang out with must be a nightmare for her. I admit I was kinda like this back in my years at school when I had no friends or anyone to hang out with. All I had were bullies or girls fighting over me. Most people saw me as being too good for them but I never spoke out to anyone and asked if they could hang out with me, but that was all before Prompto came along when I was in High-School all different and positive in his attitude and personality. That's when I felt like there was somebody there to stand by me. Now Ruby was in a situation like that where she has nobody to stand with **her** , and lend her a hand. So here I was for her. I lent out my hand for her, and motioned for her to take it. "Don't worry Ruby. I'm here for you. You fall and I'll pick you up. So what do you say?" Ruby stared at my hand for a while until she had smiled slightly and took my hand, and I pulled her back up to her feet. "Thank you Noct. It means a lot to me."

"No problem Rubes." We stood there awkwardly until Ruby gave a friendly punch at my shoulder, before someone had come up to us as awkwardly as us. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, silver armour, a black and orange hoodie, brown gloves, jeans, converse shoes, and several belts. He looked nervous and uptight whilst he rubbed his arm, and stuttered his words out "um... Hi...?"

"Hello!" Ruby cheerfully waved her hand. "Sup?" I crossed my arms. "Say um... I'm Jaune" he introduced himself with an open hand out, in which Ruby shook it, "Ruby." I shook his hand next and acquaint myself; "Noct." Jaune's eyes shot open when I mentioned my name. "Noct? As in... Noctis Lucis Caelum?!" He asked. "Yeah?" I answered questionably. "No way! I'm... I'm so honoured to meet you your highness! I-I don't know what to say" Jaune darted down as he knelt and got back up instantly - a gleamingly excited and surprised look in his eyes. "Thanks."

"Say. Your highness... Um... Is it alright if I could walk with you two guys to the ceremony? I've got nobody to hang out with." I exchanged looks with Ruby as she smiled and nodded, and I answered Jaune "no, not a problem. And please, don't call me 'your highness'." I didn't really like being a ' _Highness_ ' or ' _Majesty_ ', made me feel kind of stupid or too overpowered, and I didn't want people to think of me like that. "Um, yeah. Sure thing your high- I MEAN, your majes- I MEAN... I should arp talking now..." Jaune stuttered with his words with utter defeat to the fact that he didn't want to speak. "Say, wait a minute..." Ruby interrupted us, "aren't you the guy who vomited on the ship?" I didn't want to bring up how he was the guy who threw up on the ship, but I guess Ruby didn't see it that way.

Silence...

* * *

- **later** -

"Look. All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than one might think" Jaune explained as he walked with us down the courtyard of Beacon, right next to a small pond and fountain. Jaune recalled to what Ruby and Yang called him earlier on the ship because of his actions on the ship - vomiting and all. "Well sorry, 'Vomit Boy' was the first thing we thought of" Ruby apologized. Jaune took offence in this and countered us by saying "oh yeah? Well what if I called you 'Crater Face', and what if I called you 'Sleeping Beauty'" he gestured to us. I took his insult as offence and exclaimed "hey! I only sleep on terms. Like when I'm bored."

"And that explosion was an accident!"

"Well guess what, the name's _**Jaune** Arc_. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it" he explained with a smug look, in which I rolled my eyes. In all honesty, he reminded me of Prompto with armour and a nervous attitude, or if he was his brother. "Do they?" Ruby asked. "They will! Or at least... I think they will. I mean, my mom always said... Eh, nevermind." We chuckled at the slightest awkwardness, as Ruby smiled and broke the silence, reaching to the back off her hips, and saying "so... I got **this** thing" before she transformed her weapon into scythe mode and spun it around before stabbing it into the ground. Jaune and I winced to this unexpected action. "Whoa! Is, _that_ a scythe?" Ruby cheerfully held her weapon in her hands, and replied "it's also a customizable, high-impact velocity sniper rifle."

"A wha-?"

"It's also a gun" Ruby summed up. Jaune stared in awe at Ruby's weapon before he asked me "so Noctis. Um... What sort of weapon do you have?" I had my hands in my pocket before I let one out and summoned my Engine Blade. "Not much. Just this weapon I got for my sixteenth birthday from my dad."

"Wait a minute! Is that a car engine mixed with a sword?"

"I guess so" I swung the sword a little. "That's so cool! What if you take it apart? Could you use it as an actual car engine?"

"I dunno. My dad got it from a battle from Nifflheim, and he gave to me for my birthday. I just think the engine parts are for decoration."

" _Oooh._ That's cool" Jaune gleamed at my sword, before I desummoned my sword in a blue crystalline light to his amazement. "So what do you have Jaune?" Ruby asked. "Oh me? Um..." Jaune reached to his hip and unsheathed a shield and a metal sheath, which transformed into a large silver shield with gold trimmings and a golden design of a force-field-like symbol. His sword was basic - golden hilt, blue leather grip, and a broad silver blade. It didn't seem that special to me, seeing how I usually see a few suits of armour here and there back home in the hallways - holding swords, shields, or polearms, but I guess it was special to Jaune and Ruby. "I have this sword" he held his blade up, with the admiration of Ruby as she whispered " _oooh_."

"Yeah. And I got this shield too" he held his shield up now. "Nice. So what do they do?" Ruby asked as she tapped on his shield and it transformed smaller to it's sheath form, and Jaune attempted to catch it. He caught it and held it in it's shield form once more until he shrunk it and placed it at his hip, and answered "t-the shield gets smaller. So when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... Y'know... Put it away."

"But, wouldn't it still weigh the same" Ruby pointed out the obvious. " _yeah it still weighs the same_ " he spoke under his breath in response, earning Ruby's laughter.

Ruby readjusted her scythe in her hands and said "well I'm a bit of a weapon when it comes to weapons. I read a lot of magazines and such when I get the chance. I guess I went a little overboard when it came to making it." Jaune's eyes widened in shock, as well as mine, hearing the Ruby **made** her weapon. I thought she must've just bought it from someplace or earned it from somebody, but I didn't expect she would **make** a large transforming scythe that acted as a gun at the same time. "Wait! You made that?!"

"Yeah, I thought you bought it from somebody."

"No, I made it on my own with a little help from my Uncle Qrow. Besides, all students at Signal Academy forged their own weapons. And Noct got his from his dad. Didn't you make yours Jaune?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war with Lucis against Niflheim. It was passed down through Arc family history and we fought with it against Niflheim and Daemons. So I inherited."

It caught my attention when he mentioned he war, and his family being a part if that, which intrigued me a lot. "The war? With Lucis and Niflheim?" I curiously asked as I thought of the long war between Lucis and Niflheim, and how they sometimes recruited Hunters to fight with them in the war. "Yeah, my dad fought with your dad against the Empire, and he killed monsters while doing so. It's really an honour. My dad would've wanted to join the Glaives, but my mom was having me so... He retired. But still... I wanna live up to the Arc name." I still couldn't believe how his father even had the honour of meeting my dad before, and I guess it was special to his family. "Wow... I don't know what to say" I said. "I don't know either. But yeah... My family kept this sword and shield for a while, and I wanna pass it down forward too" he concluded with a look of admiration and honour, which mostly suited him for his knightly attire. "Seems more like a family heirloom to me" Ruby identified it, "but I like it! Nobody has appreciation over the classics and what they've been in."

"Yeah. The _Classics_ " Jaune finished as he sheathed his sword into his sheath-shield, and carried on. "So Jaune. I'm not trying to sound rude or anything, but why did you want to tag along with us? Don't you have someone to hang out with?" It wasn't really in my place to ask him something like that, but I guess curiosity took the best of me. "No, not really. I came to Beacon alone. Besides, nobody wanted to hang out with me after the ship incident. And when I saw you guys alone, you were my last resorts. And besides, I remember an old saying from my mom; " _Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet_."

"Hmm" was all I responded, not knowing what to say. Like I mentioned before; I have never met my mother before and all I had was my dad. I never had any motherly bonding moments or motherly advice from her, so I didn't really know the feeling, so I guess Jaune was lucky. "Say, do you guys know where we're going?" Ruby asked as she skipped and came to a stop. "Wait, I thought you guys knew. I was following you guys" Jaune responded. "I have no idea where we even came from" I added.

"..."

"..."

"..."

We stood silently, taking in the fact we were lost, and that we had no idea where to go and we had no directions. "You think they have a directory?" Jaune broke the silence, "or like a, food court?"

"Or beds?" I included, sarcastically... Or seriously. Ruby before we came to a conclusion; "so, I'm guessing that's a no?"

"That's a no."


	6. V Ceremony

**Third Person View**

"Well, at least we finally got someone to point us the right way" Jaune exclaimed as the three recently-made friends walked down the courtyard and into the Main Hall of Beacon, thanks to the help of one of the teachers of the academy - nimble, overzealous, and clever in nature. Sporting green messy hair, green eyes, pale skin, and smelling of coffee and sweat. Wearing a shaggy white business shirt with a yellow tie with the collar open, black trousers and matching shoes, as well as a pair of spectacles over his eyes. The teacher was fast and hyper as Jaune, Ruby and Noctis had witnessed him running around wildly - papers flying _everywhere_ and coffee spilling from his mug _everywhere_. Of course, he had stopped to help the lost students, giving them directions which they could barely understood, and just like that, he _lickety-split_ out of there. Noctis remembered the name tag the teacher wore. "Mr. Oobleck, was his name?" He asked. "Yeah, he seemed kinda nice" Ruby answered gleefully. "Yeah, maybe this school won't be all that bad." "Guess so" Jaune remarked as they proceeded to the ceremony room. "Although I think he should stay off the coffee" Noctis clarified, "he probably drinks more of the stuff than Ignis."

"Who?" Jaune asked. "You'll see." The three enter the Main Hall, as hundreds of students were found standing around, chatting, and awaiting Proffessor Ozpin's speech before being dismissed. They stood amazed and dumbfounded at the amazing sight before them as the Main Hall was way bigger and more beautiful than anything they could imagine, maybe even beyond that. _'But Beacon's got nothing on home_ ' Noctis thought - thinking back to the shining Crown City in all of it's glory. They lost their train of thoughts - lost in the amazing sight, until the familiar voice of Ruby's sister called out for her; "Ruby! Over here" she waved for Ruby, "I saved you a spot!" She recognized her sister immediately and had to leave the boys for now. "Oh! That's my sister Yang" Ruby exclaimed, "I'll see you two after the ceremony." She wandered off to her sister, leaving Noctis and Jaune - the prince and knight alone. "Hey Noct!" Noctis heard as he heard Prompto's voice, and saw the Prompto, Ignis, and Gladiolus standing on the opposite side from Ruby and Yang. "Who're those guys?" Jaune points and asks. "Oh, those are my friends. I'll catch up with you and Ruby later" Noctis said, as he trekked towards his friends and avoiding bumping into people by accident. "Noct! Wait!" Jaune tried to call for him, " _Ruby_! Uh..." Jaune was found standing alone right now - nobody recognizable or familiar to him as he had no friends or family around. He currently stood in silence and moped, surrounded by a large, and unfitting crowd. "Great, now where am I going to find a _nice_ , quirky girl and cool prince to talk to now?" Jaune questioned as he walked away, but not before catching the attention of a red-headed, and emerald-eyed champion.

Over to Ruby and Yang, the two sisters had met back up and awaited for the headmaster's speech. "So how was your first day at Beacon little sister? Did you and Noctis get together yet?" Yang asked with a wink, disgusting Ruby the slightest to that remark. "Ew! Yang! Gross! I don't want anything to do with boys! And I don't even have an interest in Noctis!" Yang shrugged her shoulders and said "Well, okay, if you say so little sis. But, how was you day anyways?" Ruby glared daggers at her sister as she still held a grudge against her for abandoning her and Noctis. "Oh? You mean after you, Gladiolus, Ignis and Prompto took off without us and I exploded" Ruby pouted. "Yikes. Meltdown already? I didn't think you were **that** mad after I left you behind."

"No! I **literally** exploded a hole in the front of the school" Ruby corrected Yang, "and there was some fire, and _I-I think some ice_..."

"Are you being _sarcastic_?" Yang questioned her sister. "Ugh, I wish!" Ruby exclaimed, unaware of Weiss' presence behind her. "Me and Noct tripped over some crabby rich girl's luggage! Then she yelled at us! And then I sneezed! And then I exploded! And then she yelled at me more! And Noctis and her were having an arguement! And I felt really, _really_ bad, and I wanted her to stop yelling at us." Weiss's glare grew as she heard Ruby talking about her and her 'accident' earlier, as Yang and Ruby were unbeknown that she was there. " **YOU**!" Weiss finally, angrily called behind the red caped girl, causing her to jump into her sister's arms startled of the sudden outburst. "Oh no, it's happening again" Ruby terrifyingly said. " _You_ were lucky you weren't blown off the side of the cliff! And that the prince was backing you up" Weiss yelled. "My god, you _really_ exploded" Yang confirmed as Ruby stepped out of Yang's arms with pleading puppy-dog eyes for Weiss, hoping to receive forgiveness. "It was an accident! It was an accident!" Weiss had ignored Ruby's apology and pleas, as she reached into her coat pocket and protruded a small pamphlet titled " _ **DUST** for Dummies_ ", and held it up to Ruby's face as she was unfamiliar to the pamphlet. "What's this?" "The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product" Weiss explained. "Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Ruby couldn't follow what the heiress was saying (mostly how it seemed Weiss' voice was speeding up like the someone hit the Fast Forward button of a tape recorder) as she stared blankly at the pamphlet. "Uh..." Was all the red-caped girl could say. "You **really** want to make thing up for me?" "Absolutely" Ruby answered with a wince; receiving the pamphlet from Weiss before she concluded "read this, and don't **ever** speak to me again." "Look..." Yang awkwardly scratched the back of her head, "maybe you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you try and start all over again and try to be friends, okay?" Yang suggested with a hopeful smile. "Great idea sis!" Ruby had cleared her throat and had a friendly composure as she raised her hand out for Weiss. "Hello Weiss! I'm _Ruby_. Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies!"

"Yeah!" Weiss sarcastically agrees, "and we can paint our nails, and talk about tall, blonde, and scraggly over there!" She points behind her to where Jaune Arc, and Prompto are standing close to each other, catching their attention. "Wow! Really?!" Ruby cheerfully asks. "... **No**!" Weiss finally snaps.

Across from the room, as Noctis and his friends were awaiting the ceremonial speech, they watched on as Ruby, Yang, and Weiss were caught in a... So-or-so conversation. Noctis was glaring towards the Schnee girl - reminded of the fact that this was the same bratty girl who got mad a Ruby and him. Honestly, Weiss made him madder and madder by the second when he saw her get mad at Ruby for no reason. Well, except for the fact that he and Ruby accidentally knocked over her luggage earlier, but that was it. Still, it didn't make sense to him why Weiss would bow respectfully to him earlier when their families hated each other, but he decided to shrug it off. "How much longer until the speech?" Prompto whined, "I'm _starving_!" Gladiolus raised a brow and says "what're you talking about? You just eat at least three hours ago." Still, Prompto continued to whine about it. "That's like an **eternity**." "You're always hungry" Noctis states. "Should be but a moment. Let us all be patient until then" Ignis answers Prompto's question. Noctis decided to change the subject and ask an interesting question. "Hey, Prompto. Was she talking about you?" Noctis asks Prompto when he recalled her saying ' _tall, blonde, and scraggly_ '. "Huh?" Prompto asked. "That girl over there, was she talking about you?" Gladiolus smirked as he caught onto what Noctis was getting at, and got in on it; "Tall. Blonde. And _scraggly_ \- oh yeah, looks like you've got an admirer Prompto." The colour drained from his face as he realized what they meant. Gladiolus and Noctis burst into laughter as Ignis couldn't help but smirk a little to the humiliating joke. "What?! Let me get one thing straight; I am **definitely** , not scraggly!" He points a finger at the guys with a defensive glare. "If you say so" Gladiolus remarks with a grin on his face. Prompto wasn't having it. "Oh come on! Have you ever taken a second look at **Ignis**?" He points towards the Royal Advisor, earning an agreement from the large crownsguard. "Huh, good point." Ignis glared at the three staring at him with examining looks. "It is rude to _stare_." Gladiolus shrugged it off, and awaited patiently. But not before he caught a second glimpse of the white-haired girl, and immediately noticed something; white hair, blue eyes, and a white snowflake crest on the back of her jacket - all major characteristics of the Schnee family members, the rulers of Atlas. "Wait. Isn't that the heir to the Schnee Mining Company? What's her name? Weiss?" Gladiolus asks. Noctis replied with a nod. "Uh huh. Had a run in with her when I was with Ruby" Prompto asks "how did **that** go?" Noctis crosses his arms and responds "she's as cold as they say." Prompto watches as Ruby, Yang, and Weiss continue their to stand silently - deciding to ignore each other and avoid fighting, and curiously asks "What's the problem between your families?" Ignis pushes his glasses up and answers "the kingdoms of Lucis and Atlas don't get along. And as such, neither do their inherent families. The kingdom of Lucis sees the Faunus as humble and people of great importance, and allow a human and Faunus society in Lucis. But the Schnees think otherwise. They see the Faunus as a lower species and have no purposeful meaning; putting them to labour work in the family Dust quarry with no overall care for safety and little to none minimum wage. Lucis and Atlas always fought about the Faunus' rights and they do not get along as such." "Seriously?" Prompto asks. "Yep. That's the way of the world, I guess" Gladiolus says, "the world's full cruel people." Noctis shrugged and says "my dad and Jacques don't like each other. Especially when the kingdoms have to come together for meetings." He sighs, and mutters "I just wish things could be different." Gladiolus patted the young prince's shoulder, and reassuringly said "don't worry Noct. You got a long way to go until you're king. But you could still make a difference. We believe in you" He smiled slightly, and responds "thanks. I appreciate that. I _will_ make a difference." Gladiolus nods with a smile and says "that's what I like to hear."

Everyone's conversations had come to a halt as the tapping sounds of a microphone was heard throughout the room and silencing the first-year students. Facing their attention towards the stage, there stands the Headmaster of Beacon, Proffessor Ozpin, and Ms. Goodwitch. The professor stood tall and lean, without his coffee in his hand, and pushes his spectacles up closer - still revealing his coffee brown eyes. It honestly didn't look anything like him at all. "I'll... Keep this brief" the headmaster finally says, "you have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people, and for the few others to find themselves of where they stand. But I look amongst you, and all I see is _wasted energy_ , in need of _purpose_ , _direction_ , and others: _discipline_. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far or keep you standing for so long. It is up to **you** to take the first step, and that first step begins with **you**." The Headmaster steps away from the stage as Ms. Goodwitch takes his place at the microphone with her scroll in her hands. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed" she announces, dismissing the students as she steps off the stage as well. Ruby, Yang, and Weiss stand offed - unsure of what to say of the Headmaster since they know he acted differently today. "He seemed kind of... _Off_ " Ruby stated. "It was like as if he wasn't _there_ " Yang supported Ruby's statement. Ruby looked over towards Noctis and his friends as they continued talking. She was going to go and ask them to join them on their tour around the academy before it seemed like Jaune came out of nowhere, and with a finger he says "I'm a natural blonde you know!" Weiss face palms herself, and the two sisters held back a laugh.

* * *

 **Later**

"Well Weiss was... _Interesting_ " Yang says as the large group moves down the halls of the dormitories. Within the group was Ruby, Yang, Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Jaune (after being formerly introduced to Yang and the guys). They followed one another as they toured the academy - the classrooms, the dormitories, the courtyard, and other various parts of the school. It was like a maze, but with their scrolls they would never get lost. Their conversation was averted to the topic about Weiss - earning the title " _Ice Queen_ " from the others. "Don't get me started on her" Ruby says with crossed arms. "She really is cold" Gladiolus says, earning a response of "indeed" from Ignis. " _I like her_ " Jaune mutters with a smile and gleam in his eyes. The six stare at him with shocked expressions, making the blonde boy nervous. "Seriously? You _like_ 'Ice Queen'?" Yang asks with her hands on her hips. Jaune still didn't care. "I know she may be cold-"

"Literally" Prompto exclaims. "But I know she'll be _my_ Ice Queen one day..." Jaune daydreamed, with a flattering glint in his eyes. Gladiolus pats the knight on the shoulder and exclaims "keep dreaming pal." Noctis wanted to warn the guy once more, exclaiming "you're signing your death wish man."

"I'll take my chances" Jaune responds.

"If you say so."

"You know, if you need help, why not ask for **professional** help from 'the _lady's man_ '." Prompto gestures towards himself with pointed thumbs and a toothy smile. The friends look at each other with confused looks, before bursting into hysterical laughter, save for Ignis and Jaune. Ruby was holding her stomach whilst she was laughing, and Yang was doing the same. He glares at them with an angered expression. "What?! I am! I can reel in any sort of girl."

"You keep losing the catch" Noctis counters; a fishing enthusiast. "How was your last date?" Gladiolus asks. "Oh... Right." Prompto puffs his cheeks, turned red from frustration, before saying "you guys are jerks! Y'know?" The six stop laughing as they had their fun with the photographer. "Okay Prompto. Sorry" Noctis apologizes. Yang wiped away a tear from her laughter. "That was funny though." Prompto blushes as he rubs his arm, before finally blowing steak off; "okay... It was funny."

"Well, well well!" A masculine voice behind them says. Turning, they came face-to-face with a group of four boys roughly around their age - first-years. The first one had burnt-orange hair that was combed backwards with a slight peak at the front, and indigo eyes. He wore silver-gray armor with a golden trim. The chestplate sported a bird with its wings outstretched. Underneath the armor, he wears a black shirt with red trimmings and black pants with a red belt tied around his waist, and a sheath for his mace. The boy was very tall. He stands at least a head above the rest of his teammates, and was more intimidating than the others. "Lookie what we have here; princess Noctis and his meat shields." He grinned menacingly. The four boys narrowed their eyebrows; Noctis was gritting his teeth, Prompto balled his fists, Ignis glared and examined the bullies, and Gladiolus clenched his fists tightly - just about ready to summon his Greatsword and throw down with these guys. The bullies showed no fear whatsoever as they laughed menacingly, and grinned evilly. "And what else do we have here? A wimpy little knight. And Little Red Riding Hood." Watching him bully her little sister made Yang more angrier than ever, but it paled in comparison to Gladiolus' and Noctis' anger. "Hey! Leave my little sister alone you jerk!" She pointed a finger at him, to which didn't frighten him to the slightest - mostly because he didn't believe girls could fight back. With mocking of waving hands, he insulted her "oh! And now blondie here now wants to get in on this eh? Guess what precious; lose a few pounds and then we'll talk." Yang's eyes shot open with shock as she gasped to the insult; he called her... **FAT**! To Yang, that was the biggest insult anyone could ever say to her. To say she was mad was an understatement. She was **furious**! Yang shut eyes, gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly to the stress where they shook. Anger overtook her. Yang slowly opened her eyes and her lavender colour was replaced with furious red eyes - the power of her Semblence. " ** _Why you_**...!" Yang prepared Ember Celica and was ready to send these guys to the moon. One guy still pulled Ruby's hood over her head, and the other two were holding Prompto and Noctis back from helping Ruby, and the head bully now had Jaune in a headlock as he struggled for freedom. Yang was about to throw the first punch, before Gladiolus stomped besides her and approached the head bully. He grabbed the head bully by the the shirt and pulled him up and off his feet. The others stopped to see him lift their friend off the ground and see him struggle free from Gladiolus' iron grip. Fear slowly filled in his eyes as he stared down into Gladiolus' eyes. "Listen here you little punk! You leave them and everybody else alone, and I'll put you down! And you better beat it before I beat **you to hell**! Capiche, **punk**?!" He put him down and shoved him away, falling to the floor with a thud. The three other bullies stopped what they were doing and showed an expression of shock and fear from the larger crownsguard. One of them helped their fallen friend up to his feet and he rubbed his throat. The very sight of Gladiolus made the others tremble in fear, but the head bully wasn't very intimidating. He smiled and readjusted himself. "You know what? Because it's your first day, I'll let you off nicely. Don't take it so kindly though." He peered over to his friends. "Come on guys. Let's get out of here." The four bullies walk away in the opposite direction and leave the seven friends alone, but something told them this wouldn't be the last time they'd cross paths with them again. Gladiolus took a few deep breaths, calming, down, as well as Yang as she stood shocked by Gladiolus' temper. Yang's eyes reverted back to her lavender colour, and Ember Celica transformed back to their gauntlet form. "Thank you, so much Gladiolus" Ruby silently says, pulling her hood down with a small smile. Gladiolus responds with a generous smile to fade away his temper. "No problem. Anything for a friend." He peers over his shoulder back to the bullies disappearing down the hall. "I honestly can't stand anybody like him." "Neither can I" Noctis vaguely responds. "Jeez. What's his problem?" Jaune asks as he fixed his hair and readjusted his crooked armour. "People can be very cruel, as it seems" Ignis states with a sigh. "At least I'm sure they got the message" Yang says with a final breath. "Let's hope so. Last thing we need now are a group of bullies roaming this school" Noctis comments. "You could say that again" Prompto responds as he rubbed his neck. They had recovered from their experience from the bullies and continued on. Over the horizon, the sun was slowly setting and night was approaching by the minute - night was falling over Vale, and the future hunters and huntresses needed their rest for tomorrow. And that's what they intended to do.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

All the first-year students, including me, Yang, Noct, and his friends had gathered in the ballroom of Beacon as the sun had set over the horizon. Students who had been exploring the academy had come together in the ballroom as they set up sleeping bags, hammocks, or even tents with the approval of Ms. Goodwitch. Me and Yang set our sleeping bags and pillows in the center of the ballroom, whilst Noctis and his friends set themselves up in the corner next to the windows. They had a tent, sleeping bags, pillows, and everything else they needed. Don't know why hey would need an entire tent inside the ballroom. Maybe it was a ' _Royal_ ' thing. I didn't pay much attention to them as I was writing down on a note that I was going to send to my old friends back at Signal. I wore a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowulf on it, white pyjamas with pink roses on them, and a black sleep cap over my head, with angry red eyes over them. I continued writing my letter just as Yang came along wearing her yellow tank top with her symbol on it, and black short shorts. "It's like a **biiig** Slumber Party" Yang called as she plopped down on the floor next to me on her sleeping bag, resting her head on her hand as she smiled happily at me. I sighed and responded "I don't think dad would agree with all the boys though." That was no lie, our dad didn't really approve of boys in our house, and boy bands - especially drummers. But Yang wasn't having any of that. She hung a few boy band posters and posters of movies with hot guys in them all around her room back at home. But for some reason dad never minded though "I know _I_ do" Yang purred as she eyed the bare-shirt boys who were horsing around, giving noogies and flexing their muscles. She then spotted the boys; Noct, Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis changing into their pyjamas and revealing their bare chests out to see. Noctis was pretty fit for a prince, as well as his friend Prompto, but Ignis was very slim for his build, while Gladiolus was buff and showed off his Phoenix tattoo and scars. I stared at Yang as she stared at the boys, and she would have continued if it hadn't been for Jaune walking by - wearing a light blue onesie instead of a normal tee and pants. He stopped walking and humming halfway as he noticed Yang staring, and smiled - a disapproval in Yang's book. "Eugh..." I rolled my eyes and continued to write my letter to the guys back at Signal, which caught Yang's attention. "Say, what's that?"

"A letter to the gang back at Signal" I answered, "I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." "Oh that's so _cuuute_ " Yang cooed as I threw a pillow at her face. " **Shut up**! I didn't get to bring my friends with me to school this year! It's weird not knowing anyone here besides Noctis and the guys." I stared down at my pillow sadly as I was reminded of leaving my friends behind, and making new friends wasn't that easy anymore. Especially with what happened today. But Yang was here to support me. "What about Jaune? He's... _Nice_. There you go! Plus one friend! That a one-hundred percent increase! Plus, there's Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, and _Prompto_ " she glanced starry-eyed at the blonde once more, "viola! Five-hundred percent increase!" I leaned back on my sleeping bag and glanced up at the ceiling. "Pretty sure Weiss, and those four bullies from earlier count as **Negative** Friends. Back to zero." Yang glared daggers at Cardin again. "Yeah... If anything happens to you, I'll be there to beat those cronies to a pulp for you" yang clenched her fists and pounded them, "and besides, there's no such thing as a ' _Negative_ _Friend_ '. You just made a bunch of friends, and a bunch of enemies." I threw another pillow in Yang's face - the puppy plushy pillow. She took the pillow off her face with a grin, and saw me lying down with a saddened expression. "Look. It's only been one day. Think about it; you have friends all around you, you just haven't met them yet." While that may be true, I just don't see it right now. I want new friends, yes, but I also want my old friends. But I guess that won't be happening anytime soon.

I shrugged it off and was about to head to sleep. It was then when I noticed something familiar, or _someone_. I leaned up, and I immediately noticed the girl from earlier; long black hair, Amber eyes, fair skin, and the distinctive black bow on the top of her head. She wore a black nightgown and was silently sitting by the window - reading an untitled book right next to a lit candle. " _That girl_ " I whisper under my breath. "What? You know her?" Yang asks me as she noticed the girl as well. "No, but she was there after the explosion to sort things out between, me, Noct and Weiss. She left before I could say anything to her." Yang took a long look at the girl before asking "Well, why don't you go talk to her?" I look at her with a questionable look, because I wasn't so sure about that, and I had a bad feeling this wasn't gonna go along nicely. "I don't know about _that_." I know it would've been a great way for me to make new friends, but I was so nervous ever since my encounter with (cough) _Ice Queen_ (cough). And besides, this girl didn't loo like she wanted to be bothered. Yang thought differently however. "Don't worry sis! Allow me help you out with that!" Yang grabbed my hand with an iron grip, got up and started dragging me over to the girl. "Wait what! What're you doing?! Stop carrying me around all the time!" I tried to catch my footing, but Yang could carry me around like it's nothing. The amber eyed girl peered over her book to see Yang with an open smile, dragging me behind her, and with a wave as she happily greeted " _Hello_!" We now stood face-to-face with the girl (but mostly we stood, and the girl sat, and it was less face-to-face and more... Something). "I believe you two _know_ each other?" Yang says with her hands on her hips. "Aren't you... The girl that exploded earlier?" She recognized me, much to my disappointment. "Uh... Yeah. My names Ruby. But you can call me _Crater_... Actually you can just call me Ruby..." I nervously rubbed the back of my head to the awkward introduction. "...okay" the girl responds.

"so, what's your name?" The girl sighed with an annoyed tone, and replied "Blake..." She glanced back down to her book. "Well Blake, I'm Yang" Yang excitedly Introduced herself with a pointed thumb, "Ruby's older sister! I like your bow."

"Thanks."

"It goes great with your... Pyjamas" Yang awkwardly compliments. Blake stared down at her book - eyes glued to it, and responded " _right_..." Me and Yang nervously exchanged looks - realizing our conversation wasn't gaining ground, just too awkward, before she said "nice night, don't you think?" "Yes, it's _lovely_ " Blake answers with a sigh. "Almost as lovely as this book..."

"..."

"Which I will continue to read..."

"..."

"As soon as you leave" she glared.

"Yeah this girl's a lost cause" Yang had finally given up, but before we could leave her alone to her book, something interested me; not about Blake or our conversation, but her book - piquing my interest "What's it about?" I ask "Huh?" Blake finally raises her head. "Your book. Does it have a name?"

"Well, it's about a man with two souls; each fighting for total control over his body" Blake answers. "Oh yeah, that sounds _real lovely_ " she vaguely comments. "Say..." Yang's attention was averted to the book sitting next to Blake, as she biked it up and examined it. It was titled "Cosmogony." "What's this one?" Yang asks. "It's the book of Cosmogony. A recollection of the gods, Lucis, myths, legends, and almost anything about the universe and it's origins. It was a birthday present from my mother when she visited Lucis when I was ten." Yang opens the large book to a bookmarked page, showing a picture of a woman; black, long, smooth hair, closed eyes, black robes, and white wings coming down to a man with dark, long, wavy hair, black robes, pale skin, and a silver glow in his hands. And also to a woman with white robes, fair skin, and a hood over her black hair. In her hand was a black three-tipped spear; a trident. And surrounded by them were angelic figures with white wings kneeling before them in a forest. I couldn't help but think that I've read something about this before. Yang closed the book and set it back down next to the girl.

"I love books" I comment with a friendly smile, to which Blake noticed. "Yang used to read me them before I went to bed. Stories of _heroes_ , and _monsters_. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to be a huntress." "And why is that?" she asks, "so we could live happily ever after?" "I'm hoping we all will" I respond, "as a girl, I wanted to grow up to be **just** like the heroes in those books. Someone who fought for what was right, and helped people who couldn't help themselves." "That's very ambitious for a child" Blake sadly looked down, losing her smile. "Unfortunately the real world isn't anything like the fairy tales." That was true; life isn't a fairy tale, but that was why we were here today - to make a change. To carve a path in our future and for everybody else. "Well, that's why **we're** here! To make it better." Yang proudly smiled as she came up and hugged me tightly - lifting me off my feet. I think she was smiling because I made a new _friend_. "Oh I'm so proud of my baby sister!" I struggled against her grip. Why can't she just let me go for once? "YANG! CUT IT OUT-!" We broke up into a fight - cloud, punching and all. Blake put her book aside and readjusted herself. "Ruby, Yang, look I-"

"What on earth is going on over here?!" A familiar voice said cutting Blake off - Weiss. "Can't you realize some of us are trying to go to sleep?!" Weiss had her long hair down, and was wearing a light blue and white nightgown much like Blake's, only different. She was glaring at us again, ' _go_ _figure_ ', and as soon as she recognized us, her temper took over again. " **OH NOT YOU AGAIN**!" Yang and Weiss yell loudly - stirring awake a few people and sending a few angry looks our way. I didn't want any more people to get mad at us, especially me. Bad enough we have Weiss, but I didn't want anyone else to get mad at me. "Shh! She's right. People are trying to go to sleep" I whisper as I try to break up the fight. No avail whatsoever. "Oh, **now** you're on my side" Weiss questions with her arms crossed. "I've always been on your side" I remark defensively. "Yeah, what's your problem with my little sister?" Yang defends me with a clench of her fist "she's only **trying** to **help**!" "She's a **hazard** to my health!" Weiss retorts with a pout and stomp of her feet. I could easily tell that Blake was getting tired of this fight as I was, and we just wanted it to end immediately. She rolled her eyes as she picked up the candle holder and blew out the lit, burning candles. The rest of the room turned dark and surprisingly, the fight ended just like that. It was lights out for now, and boy was I tired. Initiation was tomorrow, and I'll be ready.

* * *

 **Cardin and his friends never learn do they? One: never insult a prince and his crownsguards. And two: never. EVER. Call Yang FAT! I hope they'll learn their lesson next time. Maybe not though. Leave a like, review, and follow me and the story if you like the story so far.**


	7. VI Initiation

**Third Person View**

* * *

Dawn had broken over the horizon of Beacon Academy and the city of Vale; numbers of hunters and huntresses were waking up early from their deep slumber - receiving their good night's sleep and rubbing the exhaustion out of their eyes. One student however was currently waking up as well, but had came eye-to-eye with his closest companion; Nora Valkyrie. Blinking a few times, Lie Ren found Nora standing over him; purple met cyan. Nora was energetic and hyperactive, and well-prepared for the day with a gleaming smile. Nora had short, orange hair, cyan eyes, fair skin, and a slim figure, despite how much she enjoyed Pancakes. She wore a white shirt with a small heart-shaped cutaway, a black collared vest with silver, light blue, and red trimming and a pink hammer, and lightning bolt emblem on her back. A blue bow was tied on her back, she had pink fingerless gloves, a pink skirt, white sleeves, and white sneakers with a secondary pink trimming. Sheathed on her back was her weapon; Magnhild - a large, transformable, two-handed hammer that transforms into a grenade launcher. Nora always had an energetic and hyperactive personality, but could be fierce and determinative at certain times despite her innocent and child-like appearance. As for now, she was very eager to have Ren up and ready for the day. "Wake up sleepy butt!" She shot off somewhere as Ren was beginning to get up. Sure, he may not have been energetic and hyperactive as Nora, but he couldn't be mad at her for waking him up so early. Ren had magenta eyes, long, black hair with a magenta streak that was tied back into a ponytail, and fair skin. He was wearing a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat with red lining and black and gold trimming and pink cuffs, white trousers, and black shoes. He sighed as he lent up from his sleeping bag, and Nora had reappeared. "It's _morning_ , it's _morning_ , it's _morning_ , it's morning" she happily sang with a joyful grin.

Ren sighed once more and decided to get the day over and done with; Initiation day - the day to determine his with in the school. Nora and Ren had gone off to the restrooms where they readied themselves; Ren brushing his teeth, as Nora held her toothbrush one hand, and a tub of toothpaste in the other. "I cannot believe we have been at Beacon for a **full** 24 hours" Nora exclaims, "Not like I expected us to get kicked out or anything. I mean, you're the more perfect student than _I_ am, and I'm, well, I'm **me**! But it's just crazy you know?-"

They had returned to the ballroom to gather their belongings and clean out the room. Ren was tightening the straps of his sleeping bag to prevent it from unrolling, and Nora was brushing her hair, whilst continuing her mutual conversation with her friend. "We've been friends for _sooo_ long. What're the odds that we'd still be together. Well, not _together_ together, and I'm not saying you're not handsome. Well you are handsome, but that'd be weird, right?" No response from the magenta eyed boy; continuing to pull the straps of his sleeping bag.

"Right, what was I thinking?" Nora asks herself; a slice of pancake in her mouth as she spoke. They had now gone to the dining area and grabbed plates of Nora's favourite breakfast - pancakes. "But still, I hope we end up on the same team together." Nora had slurped the pancake up and eaten it within one bite. With realization of an idea, she raised a finger. "Oh! We should come up with some sort of plan so we end up on the same team together. _What if we bribe the Headmaster. No, that won't work, he runs the school_ -" she brings a finger to her chin.

They proceeded down to the Locker room, which Ms. Goodwitch brought them to yesterday (with some _minor_ inconvenience yesterday with Jaune stuck into a locker). Ren entered his locker to proceed and grab his two pistols - Stormflower, as Nora continued her bickering. "I know! We'll have some sort of signal, like a **distress** signal!" She gasps, "a _secret_ signal so we can find each other in the forest. Can you imitate a sloth?" She asks. "Nora..." He finally spoke calmly. "Yes Ren?" Ren held his pistols up before they were contracted down into his sleeves with ease. "I don't think Sloths make a lot of noise" he states. Nora takes a moment to understand his statement, before a smile grew once again on her face with realization, and she exclaimed "that's why it's **perfect**! no one will suspect we're working together!" He shuts his locker door and proceeded to leave with his childhood friend. "Come on Nora, let's go."

"Well not, _together_ together" she states once more with a giggle and skip away.

"Wow. Someone's happy" the prince of Lucis says as he eyes the two walk/skip away. The guys sat in a corner as they entered their lockers and retrieved or put away items they needed. Inside their lockers, they had assortments of items, souvenirs, or potions; Ethers, Potions, Elixers, and even a couple of Phoenix downs as they were hard to come by. But they each had a few stuff of their own. Inside Prompto's locker, he had his camera, camera equipment (stand, lens, film, etc.) and his photo album that he brought with him for his first year of Beacon. Inside Gladiolus' locker, he had a wooden sword and greatsword for non-lethal practice sparring, a few books, and a few _interesting_ magazines which he was more than happy to hide from the others. Ignis' locker was organized with potions, Elemancy vials, Dust crystals, and his collection of cook books and magazines. As for Noctis' locker, he had a few souvenirs he brought along his trip to Beacon with the guys; fishing bait, fishing rod parts, but of course, he held onto the strange coin the man at the docks of Vale had given him. Ignis later identified it as a coin to commemorate the Oracle's Assencion - mostly found in _Niflheim_. It was a mystery as to how something like that had gotten into the hands of an ordinary citizen, but it made them question whether that guy was a Niff or not, despite his outstanding and mysterious appearance. Was he a spy? A traitor? Or something else? They didn't want to let it get to their heads, so they all shrugged it off. "Yeah, especially the orange haired girl" Prompto states as he eyes the girl once more. "No doubt excited about today" Ignis states. "What do you think Ozpin has planned for us?" Prompto asks. "No doubt a _test_ " Ignis answers. "I believe that the Initiation is a test to prove a student's worth not just in terms of fighting stance, but in key communication, teamwork, and judgement. If all goes according to plan, then we have proven our worth to the Headmaster, and form our teams." All of them took this matter seriously; having to form teams together, but one was not happy. "Oh come on!" Prompto exclaims, "why do _we_ have to do the stupid test? I mean, Noct's Royal so why does he have to do it?" Gladiolus folded his arms. "Just because he's Royal doesn't mean he get's special privileges" He says. "At least, not **all** the time." "Hey!" Noctis exclaims to his remark. "Well it's true. Especially at school he has to _earn_ something." Noctis sighed. He had a point there; kings don't get whatever they want just like that. Sometimes they had to earn it, his father told him. Wanting something doesn't mean he'll get it - if anything, it would make them like Niflheim. "Yeah. Like my dad said, the teachers won't take me too kindly here like back at the Crown City."

"That sucks."

"I don't mind it honestly" Noctis shrugs with smile. "I mean, with all the training and lectures from Gladiolus and Iggy, we'll go along smoothly."

"Hope so. I don't wanna be some Beowulf or Ursa's breakfast this morning" Prompto says. "Then don't" Gladiolus blatantly responds. "If anything, stand your ground and don't let them get the best of you. You know we might not be together all the time." Ignis took this to account. "Then we must make quick haste to try and regroup with one another if possible."

"I'm with Iggy on this one."

"Uh huh."

"Totes."

Across to the other side of the Locker room, Yang and Ruby were preparing themselves as well. Yang already had Ember Celica - her shotgun gauntlets, and Ruby was grabbing her baby, Crescent Rose out from her locker. "Well, you seem awfully chipper today" Yang exclaims with a smile. "Yep, no more awkward small-talk, or _getting-to-know-you_ stuff. Today, I let my _sweetheart_ do the talking." Ruby held her weapon close to her like an infant with a teddy bear. Ruby was always a cute and innocent girl behind the blade of her Crescent Rose, which Yang was more than happier to admire. But she wanted the best for her little sister as well; a perfect life, a good _boyfriend_ (hint, hint, Noctis), and _friends_ most of all. "Well, remember Ruby. You're not the only one going through Initiation. If you wanna grow up, you gotta meet new people and work together."

"Ugh! You sound like **dad**!" She placed Crescent Rose back in her locker and shut the door. "First off, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting? Second of all; I don't **need** people to help me grow up! I drink **milk** " Ruby crossed her arms with shut eyes. "But what about when we form teams?" Ruby hadn't really come to think about that; she knew that they had to form teams, even with people she didn't know. And the only people Ruby knew were Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, Prompto, Yang, Jaune, Blake, and _Ice-Queen_. She was fine with the other seven, but she definitely did **not** want to be teamed up with Weiss, and vice-versa. "I don't know... I guess, I'll be on your team or something..." Yang reached back awkwardly as she pulled her hair up over her shoulder and stroked it gently. "Maybe you should be on someone else's team?"

"Like Noctis'?"

"I'm pretty sure he already has the guys."

"Well what about you?" Ruby questions with a worried look. "Ruby, you can't always count on me to watch you all the time. Maybe you should try being on somebody else's team." Ruby began to gain suspicion as to her sister, as her look of worry turned into a glare towards her older sibling. "My dearest sister, Yang. Are you implying you do not want to be on the same team as me?!"

"What?! No. Of course I do. I just thought... I dunno, it would help you... Break out of your shell."

" **WHAT THE-** I don't need to break out of my shell! That is absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune cuts Ruby off as he nervously walks past them with a note in his hands - in search of of his locker. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would've remembered to count that high. Ugh, _why does this have to happen today_?!" Jaune groaned as he continued walking around the locker room to get his gear. Upon his walking, he passed by the Schnee heiress, Weiss, and a familiar feminine figure standing with her. To Vale, and the rest of the kingdoms, she was a major celebrity; sure, she was not an athlete, or a movie actor, but she was definitely a true warrior. She was Pyrrha Nikos; top class graduate at Sanctum, champion of the Mistral Regional Tournaments (four years in a row), and of course, the (un)proud sponsor of _Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes_ (despite the fact they tasted horrible and were too sugary). Pyrrha had emerald-green eyes, fair skin, and red hair that was tied back into a ponytail. Pyrrha wore a golden crown adorned with emeralds and rubies, a golden neck gorget, a leather v-neck, strapless top with golden trimmings, brown elbow-length gloves with a golden gauntlet on her left arm, a red sash wrapped around her waist with a belt and circular golden accessory to hold it in place. She wore golden armour over her legs, and brown cuffed high-heeled boots. Pyrrha was a petite and beautiful woman behind her spear and shield, and displayed emotions of kindness and affection, though some people thought differently - seeing her as being 'too good' for them based on her celebrity status. She was different though - being open and kind to others. As of now, she was speaking with Weiss as she finished placing and adjusting her battle gear. "So Pyrrha, have you given any thoughts on whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure _everyone_ would be eager to unite with such as _strong_ , _well-known_ individual such as yourself."

"Hm, I'm not quite sure" Pyrrha answers, "I was planning to let the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was hoping we might be on the same team together."

This sort of response is what brightened Pyrrha up. "Well that sounds grand!"

"Great!" At this sudden moment, Weiss averted herself in the opposite direction as she maniacally thought to herself with a a grin ' _this is perfect! The strongest girl in class combined with the smartest girl in class! Together we will be unstoppable! We'll be popular! We'll be celebrities! We'll get perfect grades! And if I get the prince on my team, we may even be **royal**! It's absolutely fool-proof! Nothing can come between us now!_ '

"You know what else is amazing?" The voice of Jaune speaks, as he snapped Weiss out of her daze with shock. "Me, Jaune Arc. Pleasure to meet you." "Ugh, **you** again?" Weiss shrugs - uncomfortable with the annoying blonde haired boy. "Me too!" Another, chipper voice said, as Prompto stood besides Jaune with a toothy grin on face. He agreed to help Jaune get Weiss' attention, and so he did. "El Prompto Argentum, at your service m'ladies." Weiss scoffed at the two blondes before her. "Great. _Another_ blonde. This is just perfect." Pyrrha was actually more than happy to greet the two boys. "Nice to meet you Jaune and Prompto." "Yeah, yeah" Jaune exclaimed as he rudely pushes the kind redhead out of the way from Weiss. "So... Weiss, I can't help but notice that you're checking us out yesterday." Prompto and Jaune imitated flexing moves. He knew he was there to help Jaune get a girlfriend, but her didn't want to pass up the flaunting. Weiss just facepalmed herself to their childish behaviour. "Oh you have **got** to be kidding me!" "Eh, don't worry. We don't bite" Prompto says with flex of his scrawny muscles. It was unknown to him that Gladiolus now stood behind him with his hands in his pockets. "But you definitely bark" a broad voice says behind him. Prompto slowly looks up to see Gladiolus towering over him as his shadow loomed over the blonde marksman. "Sorry about that, girls. I'll take care of him" he grabs Prompto by the collar of his vest and drags him away. "Come on Prompto, let's finish getting ready for the Initiation." "Um... Nice catching up with you" Prompto says awkwardly under his state; earning a few weird glances from the girls and a disappointed look from Jaune. But they continued off from the conversation. "So anyways, I've been hearing rumours about teams. And I thought that you and I would make a good one. What do you say?"

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each so-" Pyrrha corrects him. "You don't say." He swoops over to Pyrrha's side. "Well, _hot-stuff_ , play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team." Weiss intercepted Jaune and Pyrrha as she put distance between them. "Jaune, is it? Do you have _any_ idea who you're speaking to?"

"No idea, Snow Angel."

" **This** is Pyrrha."

"Hello again!" She gleefully greeted with a wave and smile.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum."

"Never heard of it."

Weiss scoffed to his dimwitted remark, "she won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row; a new record."

"The what?"

Weiss balled her fists and with a puff of her cheeks, she blew it as she waved her arms around angrily to get it through his thick skull. "SHE'S ON THE COVER OF EVERY PUMPKIN PETE'S MARSHMALLOW FLAKES BOX!" Jaune had emitted a deep gasp as it finally struck him like a car, and the redhead became far familiar to him now - a relief to Weiss so she wouldn't have to explain much further. "That's _you_?!" He asked as he pointed to her. "I thought they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters." A cardboard cutout of the Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box came to view in Jaune's mind behind her - picturing the all-too familiar Pyrrha on the box. "Yeah. It _was_ pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." The cutout crumpled down behind her as Weiss spoke up again in Pyrrha's name. "So, after hearing this, do you think you're in a position to ask **her** to be on **your** team?" Jaune sadly glances down at the floor in dissapointment and says "I guess not... Sorry..."

Pyrrha never wanted to see anybody like this just because of her celebrity status. She wanted to be open to people but they only saw themselves as being _underachievers_ to her and didn't deserve such a thing. She wanted to be accepted by others who she is as a **person**. Not a celebrity. But here Weiss was, putting down Jaune like he wasn't good enough for her. She truly hated that. It saddened her a bit, but she wanted to lighten Jaune and support him. With her hand on his shoulder, she smiled warmly and commented "actually Jaune, I think you'd make a **great** leader." Jaune smiled happily to Pyrrha's comment to her satisfactory. "Oh, _stop it_ " he giddily said with a wave of his hand. " **Seriously** , please stop it" Weiss intercepted them once more. "This sort of behaviour should not be encouraged!"

"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?" Jaune getting close to her was too close for her personal space. "Okay, that's a bit too close" Weiss glanced over to Pyrrha. "Pyrrha, a little help here." She nodded as she grabbed her spear and launched it in Jaune's direction - hitting his hood and pulling him along with it with a grunt, and pinned him to the lockers - a short distance from where Gladiolus and Prompto were standing. "I'm sorry" she apologized.

The two boys examined Jaune, as Gladiolus pulled the spear out from the lockers and releasing him. "You okay there bud?" Prompto asks him. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." He lends him a hand and pulls him up on his feet. "I thought you said something like that would work" he asks Prompto as prior to his previous advice. "Welp, back to the old drawing board then." Jaune narrows his eyebrows at the opposite blonde, and shook his head. "I probably shouldn't have taken your advice." Gladiolus puts Jaune's shoulder, "you'll get them next time, kid."

Suddenly, the school's loudspeakers turned on and Ms. Goodwitch's voice echoed throughout the school; " **would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for Initiation? Again, all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff immediately**." Weiss rushed past Jaune without giving him second looks. Pyrrha came to retrieve her spear from Gladiolus, and commented "it was nice meeting you Jaune." Jaune sighed, " _likewise_." The two boys stood close to Jaune as he tried to balance himself against the lockers, as Ruby and Yang had came along. "Having fun there, Lady Killer?" Ruby asks him. "I don't get it" he responds, "my dad said all girls look for is _confidence_. _Where did I go wrong_?"

"Snow Angel, _probably_ not the best start" Yang clarifies. Ruby and Prompto support Jaune with his arms over the shoulders as they led him to the Beacon Cliffs for Initiation - Noctis, Ignis, and the others already on their way. "Come on Jaune. Let's go."

* * *

 **Noctis Lucis Caelum**

Prompto, Gladiolus, Ruby, Yang, and Jaune had managed to catch up with us. I would've wanted to wait for them, but Ignis didn't want to waste any time and keep the Headmaster waiting, especially Ms. Goodwitch. We were catching up on a conversation of what happened earlier in the locker room1 with Jaune, Prompto, Weiss, and the famous Pyrrha Nikos. Apparently, she made a big name in Mistral and the Vytal Tournaments, and may probably make a large title for herself in Lucis. We weren't having the tournament in Lucis until next year, but I could tell that she and others may as well be prepared for the one **this** year. But what caught our attention was how Jaune tried, and failed to get with Weiss. "Seriously?" I ask, " _Team Jaune_?" Jaune shrugs it off, "it sounds cool." Gladiolus raises a brow, "you do realize that you can't just name your teams y'know."

"Huh?"

"Team names as based prior on the first initial of the member's identities" Ignis explains. "The leader takes places as the first initial of the name, and it represents leadership and trust towards the teammates. But yet, you have to prove your worth." Jaune's eyes shot open to the last part. "W-wha-?! Really?!"

"Uh huh" Yang nods, "I can't even think of a team name starting with Y. Cause I'm gonna go out with a _Yang_! Eh? _Eh_?" All of us stared at Yang with weird glances because of her terrible pun. Ruby just rolled her eyes - probably used to her terrible puns. With a sigh, she pouts "you guys have no sense of humour."

"Does Prompto count?" I ask. "Hey!" I chuckle before apologizing. "Sorry. Just a joke." Prompto shrugs before noticing Jaune and his depressed look. "You okay bro?" He asks the young knight. "Huh? Oh, uh... Y-yeah. It's just... I don't know if I'd make a great team leader. Or a team _member_ for that matter." Ruby kindheartedly supported Jaune, as well as us. "If this is about Weiss, don't listen to her. I know you like her, but don't let her talk you down. You're an awesome person Jaune, and don't let her tell you different." "W-wow. Thanks Ruby. Never heard anyone say that about me."

"What about Pyrrha? She cares about you."

"Yeah but... I barely know her. And she barely knows me."

"So? Just because someone doesn't know you doesn't mean they don't see the best in you. You got a lot of potential and and she sees that. And so do we" Gladiolus warmly comments. You know, I've come to learn a lot about the big guy, ever since we were younger and always at each other's throats. Despite his size and aggressive looks, he was always open-hearted and kind to others. But don't let that fool you though - mess with the hull, and you'll get the horns either way. "And besides, she said you're capable of being a great leader. So that's good." "Y-you guys think so" Jaune asks with a look of concern. "We _know_ so" Ruby giddily replies. "Thanks guys. Really means a lot to me." We nod, and continue to proceed to the cliffs.

We didn't walk long before a distant sound of a dog barking caught our attention. Turning ourselves to the source of the bark, we were presented with a dark-coloured dog with white fur, and a blue rope was tied around his neck and front legs. On his back was a notebook with a brown leather cover. The dog was probably eight years old and was medium-sized. But that was no ordinary dog. That was Umbra - Lunafreya's dog! "Umbra!" I exclaim as everyone stops to spot the dog, and Ruby had a starry-eyed look in her eyes upon seeing him. "Ohmygoshhe'ssocute!" She excitedly said. I knelt down and petted him, as Ruby did the same. Umbra was always a loving dog, along with Luna's other dog, Pryna, and they were always fond to other people. "Who's this good boy?" Yang asks with a smile. "This is Umbra" I answer, "Luna's dog".

"Luna as in... The oracle?"

"The very same."

"Bringing us stuff, attaboy" Prompto says. "That dog can _really_ track a scent."

"Certainly ' _nose_ ' how to find us" Ignis says with a pun. "How **do** know boy?" Ruby shook the dog's hand as she also scratched his ear. I was more than happy to see him; because it meant that Luna had sent another message to me. Most may not know this, but with my dad's permission, me and Luna send messages to each other through a notebook that was delivered with the help of Umbra - her trusty companion. We've been doing it for a while ever since we were little, when I went to visit her family in Tenabrae with my father - a few years before it fell to Niflheim rule. And Umbra? Well... Umbra was actually a very... _Special_ dog. They say Umbra and Pryna were sent by the Astrals to deliver messages to and from the oracle, which might explain how they could cross entire landmasses and find us from far away. I was most excited for whatever Luna sent. "Just a sec guys." I retrieve the notebook from Umbra's back and open up to a bookmarked page. Upon opening it, there was a printed picture of a young woman in a spring meadow, and below was the message Luna wrote to me:

* * *

" ** _Dear Noctis,_**

 ** _I had received the word of your movement to Vale and the Hunters Academy. Worry not. I will look over you at all times, and I bless you with my heart. We will be together soon, my love._**

 ** _-Lunafreya_** "

* * *

I felt a feeling of warmth and comfort when I read her note, and I was more than happy to reply to her to let her know I was alright. I had difficulty choosing my words as a way to not hurt her feelings or sound like I didn't care. Luna was someone who really mattered to me, and I didn't want to hurt her in any way. And with careful consideration, I chose my words right and wrote my note to her:

* * *

" _ **Dear Luna,**_

 _ **I had received your blessing and I can't wait to see you. I am more than ready for the future.**_

 _ **-Noctis**_ "

* * *

With the note finished, I placed and tied it on Umbra's back. "All set" I said with satisfactory. "Take care out there boy." Umbra barks lightly - meaning that he understood me. And with that, Ruby scratches his ears one more time and then proceeded to leave. "What was that about" Jaune asks with a raised brow. "Umbra's a messenger. He delivers messages from the gods to the oracle, along with Pryna."

"For real?"

"Uh huh" Gladiolus confirms. "Or in this case, he sends _love letters_ to her and the prince" he jokingly says. The rest of the guys caught on and began teasing me. "The guy can't _really_ wait for the big day coming up."

"Heh, I can already hear the wedding bells."

"Anything you wanna say Noct? _Speak now or forever hold your peace_ "

I inhale, and slowly breathe out - hoping to resolve this problem. Prompto had other ideas. "What was that?! ' _I_ _do_ '?" Prompto teased. "Buzz off!"

* * *

 **Later**

Professor Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch stood before us as we presently stood on top of metal plates - Beacon's insignia engraved on them. Something told me this wasn't gonna go well. Standing ready, the Headmaster finally spoke to us; "For years you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." The Headmaster said before Ms. Goodwitch had stood forward and spoke. "Now, I am sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put to rest your confusion." She said before she began explaining. "Each of you will be given teammates... **today**." Glynda exclaims. "What?" Ruby groaned. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well with." Ozpin explained the rules as I noticed Ruby had a feared look on her face. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next **four** years." Professor Ozpin said as Ruby stood in shock with widened eyes, before exclaiming "WHAT!?"

"See? I Told you!" The orange-haired, cyan-eyed girl was heard with a pointed finger at the magenta-eyed boy - a close friend probably. "After you partnered up make your way to the, the Northern Forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your way, or you will die." Ozpin states. Jaune nervously laughs to those words, and scratches his head awkwardly. "You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our instructors will not intervene. You will find and abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose 1, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately." Ozpin had finished explaining to us before taking questions. "Are there any questions?" Jaune raised his hands in hope of having his questions answered. "Yeah, Um, sir-" Jaune began, before being cut off and interrupted by the Headmaster ignoring his questions. "Good! Now, take your positions." Ozpin said as everyone positioned themselves in their stances on their launching platforms.

"Um I... got a question." Jaune said nervously. And one by one, down the row without warning, everyone began to get launched in order - beginning with Weiss and Pyrrha. "So this _landing strategy_ thing uh, w-what is it your like dropping us off or something."

"No. you will be _falling_." Ozpin states. Then a mohawked guy - one of the bullies got launched, followed by Gladiolus who had given me a smirk before summoning his Greatsword and was launched within the air. "Oh I uh see." Jaune said as the other bullies were launched in the air. Prompto and Ignis were next - Prompto whooping as the wind blew in his face, and Ignis remained calm. "Oh um did you hand out parachutes for us or something?" Jaune asked. Following from Jaune's question, the hyperactive orange-haired girl and magenta-eyed boy were launched next as the girl giggled mid-air following her launch. "No. you will be using your _own_ landing strategy." Ozpin clarified. "Uh yeah."

Yang glanced to Ruby with a wink to her sister, before she put her golden aviator sunglasses on, and was launched with a joyful whoop. Ruby smirked as she had been prepared for her next launch, and without warning, she was launched next before Jaune and I were last to stand. "So what exactly is a landing strategyyyyyyy?!" Jaune was launched into the air with a scream and without warning, following by me. We were finally on our way to becoming students.

* * *

 **3rd Person View**

Ozpin turned to watch as his fellow first-year students sent flying as he took a sip of his coffee with a smirk. "You have very... _Interesting_ ways to initiate the students Professor Ozpin" Glynda comments, before he nods, sips his coffee and replies "I know, Glynda. I know."

The students faded beyond the hills, and only fate could guide them now.


	8. VII The Emerald Forest

**Third Person View**

* * *

The morning was calm and peaceful over the Emerald Forest; the morning sunrise shun over the forest in it's illuminating light, the birds sung their chirpy songs, and there were no signs of disturbance or danger whatsoever within the Emerald Forest. A black crow flew calmly over the forest - viewing the landscape and gliding. Everything would have been fine, if not for the sudden red blur that had hit the bird out of the sky with a screaming pain. "BIRDY NO!" Ruby sadly cried. She felt bad for accidentally hitting the innocent animal, but she had other matters to worry about - her landing strategy. She grabbed Crescent Rose in it's rifle form; firing a few shots to slow her descending speed, before transforming it to its scythe form and adjusted her body. The weapon's blade caught onto a branch high above the forest where the spun around it and released from it and landing on another one to club the rest of the way down.

Behind Ruby, Weiss had unsheathed Myrtenmaster and used her Semblance to summon a glyph beneath we here she would land in mid-air. She hopped from the glyph down to another until she managed to reach the surface.

Further away, Lie Ren had his weapons StormFlower in his hands as he was close to making contact with tree. He held one in front of him as the blade lodged into the trunk and he twirled around it to slow his descent. With ease and precise planning, he managed to land safely on the ground. Brushing the leaves and dirt off from his top, his attention was brought up to the sky as an explosive boom emanated throughout the forest, and a yellow blur flew overhead.

Yang was having the time of her life right now. She felt her hair flow against the force of the wind, and she never wanted it to end. She fired Ember Celica and shot her forward with intense speed and dodged oncoming trees. She giggled and laughed all the way through as she shot forward again and turned herself around. This was the thrill ride that Yang didn't want to end. She unfortunately entered into the treeline, before emerging again and leapt from tree to tree to safely land on the ground with a roll. "Nailed it!"

Pyrrha held her shield forward to avoid hitting into any trees. Breaking through two trees, she adjusting her posture to roll onto a large branch and stood with her weapon in rifle form and aimed. She looked through the scope to search for any signs of the temple or danger, but instead she saw Jaune falling out of the sky with no sign of a landing strategy. " **AAAAAAHHHHHH**!" He screamed. Pyrrha thought quickly to save Jaune - transforming her weapon into spear form with a thumb out to check for a possible time to throw. And with a throw and blast of her weapon, it shot off towards Jaune's oncoming direction. Both Jaune and the spear disappeared into the trees, and for a second, Pyrrha worried that she had missed her mark and Jaune would've been hurt or killed. But suddenly, she heard the distinct sound of the spear lodge into a tree, and Jaune's voice thankfully calmed her. "Thank you!" She caught him! "I'm sorry!" She apologized.

A black blur flew over Pyrrha's head as she looked up. And the large crownsguard, Gladiolus came into her view. "YAH!" Gladiolus yelled as he swung his weapon and sliced a tree down with a forceful swing of his Greatsword, and slammed through another one with the force of his shield. Upon the third tree, his Greatsword had straight on lodged into the trunk, from which he desummoned it and hopped down from branch to branch. ' _Piece of cake_ ' he thought upon landing on the ground.

Prompto summoned his Bioblaster - large machine he borrowed from the Crownsguard with their permission. He squeezed the trigger and the weapon's forceful blast launched him forward much like Yang with Ember Celica. "WHOA-OH-OH" he whooped. Another shockwave blast launched him forward again until he was close to landing into a tree. He adjusted his weapon to fire in front of him to slow his speed, and with two launches he was slow enough to stop himself and land on a branch. He then leapt from tree to tree; branch to branch as he finally touched the ground once again. "Awww... It's over" he disappointedly says. He checks his surroundings to search for his friends or for any Grimm. ' _Now where are you Noct_?' He thought.

Ignis extended his arms as he had already strategized his landing technique - performing the same strategy that Ren did. His blades struck into the branch of a tree as he twirled around it, leapt onto a branch, leapt to another tree and summoned his Polearm - stuck into the tree, and flipped backwards and landed on his feet with prestige effort. With a sigh, he pushed his glasses back up and brushed his hands. ' _Excellent, if I do say so myself_ ' he thought with a smirk.

Lastly, Noctis was the final one to land. He peered over the trees in search for a spot to warp to - an ability that the Lucian bloodline, and Kingsglaive possessed. He found a precise spot to land, summoned his Engine Blade, and threw it in that direction. The blade lodged into the tree, and in an instant Noctis had warped to it in a crystalline blue light. He desummoned it and landed on the ground with a thud. He brushed the dirt off his shoulders and pants, and took his surroundings in - no Grimm, no temple, nobody. "Great" he exclaimed, "just great". He heaved with a sigh, and began walking. "Better find Prompto... Or Gladiolus... Or Ignis... Anybody..."

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

I landed on the ground with a thud, and begun running through the forest in search of my sister. ' _Gotta find Yang_ ' I thought to myself. ' _Gotta find Yang! Gotta find_ -' "YANG?! YANG?!" I called out as I continued running through the forest - dodging trees and bushes in my way and kept an eye out for any Grimm. There was no sign of Yang or anyone in the forest besides me. What if I got lost?! What if I left the Initiation area?! What if nobody didn't make it?! What if I already passed the temple and everybody else?! All of these questions kept circulating around in my head, and I began to worry. Heck, why wouldn't I be? This is nothing like the Initiations back at Signal. I was all alone right now. I had to find Yang. Or anybody for that matter. ' _This is bad. This is **really** bad. What if I can't find her_?' And then Jaune came into my mind. ' _There's always Jaune. He nice. He funny. I don't think he'd be great in a fight though_ ' I pictured a cartoonish Jaune back to when we both met, with smiles and laughs, and then Jaune being mauled by a pack of Beowulves. And then came Blake. ' _Ooh, what about Blake?! So mysterious... So calm... Plus she likes books! But then again, I don't think I'd be able to hold a conversation with her_ ' I pictured a cartoonish Blake with a smirk, reading books, and me trying to talk with her, with Blake backing away with crossed arms. And then Noctis and the guys came into my mind. ' _What about Gladiolus? He's awesome, strong, and can beat up those bullies. Then again, knowing what Noct told me, he'd probably have me lifting weights_ ' I pictured Gladiolus having me lift huge bar bell weights as I struggled and sweated. _'But what about Prompto. Nice, caring, cool, and an amazing photographer_.' There was nothing wrong with that. I could see Prompto being cool and taking really cool pictures of us. ' _And Ignis. So calm, so vigilant, and really smart. Then again, he's a bit boring_.' I saw Ignis as a Blake figure - reading books and... Well just reading books. And Ignis would give boring lectures that would make us sleepy. ' _And of course. Noct. He's cool, amazing, awesome, and he's got one AWESOME sword! But... Everyone even Yang teases us about being boyfriend and girlfriend. Plus, I think he sleeps to much_.'

UGH! Focus Ruby! I shake these distracting thoughts from my head and I had to focus on where I was going - the northern forest temple. At least, I'm sure I'm going north. I avoid trees as I continue sprinting forward, and my thoughts came back to me. 'Okay. Who else do I know in this school? There's Jaune, Blake, Yang, Noctis, Gladiolus, Ignis, Prompto. And...' I was shook out of my thoughts as I had noticed the distinctive figure of someone in my way. I skidded to a stop before I possibly end up crashing into a person in front of me. This was a good sign - someone to be on my team! I mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness. What if we have similar interests?! But what if we don't get along?! Many other thoughts wandered throughout my mind, and I felt very nervous about who my partner would be. Although, as the person turned, I had easily recognized the girl before me - white hair in a ponytail, ice-blue eyes, pale skin, and white rich girl clothes. As I skidded to a stop, and readjusted myself in a standing position, I made eye contact with the girl; silver met blue. And we stared blankly at each other. But what was ironic is that the girl who I made eye contact with, and is supposedly my new teammate, is none other than _Ice Queen_ (a.k.a. Weiss). I couldn't blame her. I mean, me and her together?! Weiss truly hated my guts (all because I fell over her luggage), and I hated her (because she's so bossy and mean), who would've thought?! But even if I didn't want to be her teammate, the decision was final. Ozpin declared that the person who we made eye contact with would be our partner for the next FOUR YEARS! So I have to put up with _her_ for four years. I just wished I had gotten Yang or Blake as my partners. But then again, I felt discouraged because I knew she wanted to turn me down. Despite our bad relationship, I felt like there was still time to fix our poor bond and mend our relationship and get her to like me. It was a long shot, but it would be worth a shot. I attempt to stop her in hopes of talking to her; "wait! Where are you going?!" But it was too late. She scoffed, turned, and already began stomping off into the forest - possibly hoping to gain a new partner. I bow my head down in defeat and sadness. " _We're supposed to be teammates_ " I say sadly.

* * *

 **Weiss Schnee**

Out of all the people who I could've been teammates with... I had to be teamed up with that... With that... **NUISANCE**! That **child**! That... UGH! I could think of an entire dictionary that would describe that mess. I understood how we were supposed to be partners with whoever we first made eye contact with after our landing - as informed to us by Professor Ozpin; but four years with **HER**?! Absolutely not! This is an outrage! I absolutely deserve someone of **much** higher social standing and of greater excellence. _Someone_ like... Noctis. Or Ignis. Or most of all; Pyrrha. I wanted _fame_. _Popularity_. _Good grades_. And this is what I get? No thank you. So many thoughts go through my head, and it's not like I wanted to sound cold-hearted, but I just don't see us getting along after our incident and the many arguments. I finally decide to leave after a moment of silence and staring. I break eye contact, turned, and continued making my way north to the temple, deal with any Grimm in my way, and prove my worth in this initiation. " _We're supposed to be teammates_ " I heard her murmur as I continue taking off - ignoring her. I don't care what Ozpin said, I'm not being her partner for four years; it just can't, and never will work out. "Ow!" I yelp as I walk through another brush as it sharply pokes me by my thigh. I sigh as I search around the forest for the temple, or another teammate. Peering around, I find no sight of any other students, but I choose to keep going north. It was then when I heard the sound of someone struggling - not around me but **ABOVE** me. I look up to see that annoying blonde boy, Jaune stuck to a tree by Pyrrha's weapon pinning his hood. I watch as he keeps struggling to remove the spear and release him, all while mumbling. Then, he finally noticed me, and stops struggling. " _Hehehe_ " he awkwardly chuckled with a wave. Appears like he thinks he still has a chance to get with me. ' _On second thought, I take her back_ ' I think, without a second thought. "By no means does this make us friends" I clarify as I grab her by her hood and begin dragging her behind me. " **YOU CAME BACK**!" She happily cheered as I continued dragging her without haste or effort. We disappear behind more bushes as I hear that Jaune guy ask for me to come back and help him. I'm definitely sure he could get down on his own. As I'm sure I've gotten away from Jaune, I let go of her hood and she readjusts herself to stand. "What's the hurry?" She asked curiously. "I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow. I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your-". All of a sudden, she had instantly reappeared in front of me with a cheery smile and a puppy-like expression, along with a trail of rose petals. "What the?!" I exclaim in surprise - dumbfounded by her extreme speed. "I'm not slow, see? Don't have to worry about me!"

"When did-?"

"Weiss, just because I don't know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters" she calmly says as wraps an arm around me with her hand on my shoulder. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today Weiss! And after it's all over, you're gonna be like-".

Her comment was disrupted as we heard the clear sound of rustling and saw movements within the bushes ahead of us. We fell silent, and there was was silence around us - no birds chirping, no peaceful breeze, nothing. It was all quiet... _Too_ quiet. "Did you hear that?" Ruby asked me as she released me. "Of course I heard that! Be on your guard" I explain, as I unsheathed Myrtenaster and revolve to the Fire Dust. Ruby unsheathed her weapon in rifle form, and aims at the rustling bush. I ready myself, and await patiently.

Seconds pass, and the rustling came to a stop, and we believe whatever was there had left. Until suddenly... A figure came out from the bush and tripped; wearing black clothes, a leather biker glove, boots with red soles, and black hair, and crystalline blue eyes. None else than Prince Noctis! Truly a relief. Behind him came his larger friend; amber eyes, scar over his left eye, black open shirt, X necklace, black leather pants, black boots with red soles, and the large tattoo. "Noctis! Gladiolus!" Ruby screeched as she sprinted to Noctis as he got himself up and stopping in front of him. "Oh, hey Ruby-", he peered over her to spot me standing there, " _Ice Queen_." I was taken back from that insulting nickname - first, I'm called _Snow Angel_ from Jaune, and now _Ice Queen_. "Hey!" I exclaim. "Heh, _yeah_ " Ruby says, "looks like you got the better partner, eh Noct." "I don't really mind" Noctis shrugs. "what about you two?" Gladiolus asks. "Horrible" I answer. "Thought as much. Don't worry, you two'll get along." "Doubt it" Ruby states. "Hmph!" I cross my arms. "Don't worry Weiss" Ruby says as she wraps her arm around me once more, and continues, "as I was saying, by the time this is over, you'll be like: _wow, that Ruby girl is really, really cool. And I want to be her friend_." Likely Doubtful. She still has yet to make an impression, and prove herself a capable huntress. She had then disappeared - leaving behind nothing but rose petals. Noctis sighed and said "there she goes." "Yep" Gladiolus agrees. We stood motionless and silent as we awaited for Ruby to reappear, but with no sign of her. I sigh, and exclaim "ugh! She's going to be wasting our time!" "Just give her a break, she's just excited" Noctis implies in her defence. "She's going to be the death of us, is what she is!" A moment of silence once more, before I lose it and decide to call out for her so we may endure our mission and quit wasting time. "You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" Silence. "Ruby?!" Noctis calls out for her, as we all search around for her, before there was the sounds of rustling within the bushes - supposedly Ruby, but... No answer. "Ruby?" The rustling continues as we slowly approach to see if she was there. Something about this felt wrong, _terribly_ wrong. Then... _They_ appeared... The glowing red eyes - emerging from the bushes, the distinctive growling; deep, and wolf-like. I felt it all around us. A dark and evil presence - one as likely as... **Grimm**! Then, one of them had emerged from the bush; a Beowulf. Covered head to toe in thick, black fur, standing on its hind legs with a slouch, white bone-like spikes and mask, red marking over its mask, and the glowing red eyes. It stands tall as it approaches, as it strikes fear into me; as well as Noctis and Gladiolus. "RUBY! WHERE ARE YOU" Gladiolus cries out, as the Beowulf roars with all it's might; as the others emerge, and now... We're surrounded.

* * *

 **Sorry for the very long wait. I've just** **been really caught up in the summer - going to the carnival, going to camp for four days (technically three) in Moncton, seeing fireworks, playing Video Games, and of course; getting caught up in RWBY Chibi. So sorry for the long wait. But I'm back, and here's a new chapter. I'll try my best to update more for you guys. So if you enjoyed, leave a comment, fav, and follow. And SEEYA!**


	9. AN: 2

**A/N:**

 **So, I know it took me quite a while to recently update the story. Two months actually. And I'm sorry, but I was just being caught up in the summer - going to the Carnival, going camping for four days in Moncton, watching fireworks, and of course; wasting away my life with Video Games. And again, I am very sorry for not updating as much as I was, and I will try my best to do so. Now with that out of the way, I'd like to announce that I have been thinking for quite a little while. And I still do not know if I am certain or not, but I had an idea... For ANOTHER Final Fantasy XV crossover! And I find there are barely any stories of this kind of crossover of Fanfiction, but I would actually want to cross over Final Fantasy XV with...**

 ***drumroll***

 **~~~ FAIRY TAIL~~~**

 **As I said, I'm still not certain if I would want to write one, as I have a problem with updating and not doing it as much, and I had only recently started watching it. But this is something that I _REALLY_ want to write; seeing as there are barely any crossover stories of FFXV and Fairy Tail despite the one. And since there are more crossover stories of Fairy Tail and the OTHER Final Fantasy games, I think there should be more recognition for XV. So if (and _if_ ) I write one; here's a few details you all should know:**

1\. Carbuncle is a Celestial Spirit like Blue and the Zodiacs - and can cross over without the use of a gate key.

2\. FFXV Characters like Luna, Glauca, and Cindy will exist in the story. Many more from the game and Kingsglaive movie (Crowe, Libertus, Ravus, etc.).

3\. Niflheim, Altissia, and Tenabrae exist as well.

 **But I still have complications with the story which I could use your opinions on:**

1\. How am I going to work the Regalia and Hammerhead garage in the story? Seeing as cars (as well as other vehicles) are very rare in the Fairy Tail universe?

2\. What sort of Magic powers will Prompto, Gladiolus, and Ignis will have? (I'm not including Noctis and Lunafreya, seeing as Noctis has inherited the Lucian bloodline and their magic, and Luna had inherited her powers as the Oracle.)

3\. Who should be shipped with who?

 **So if you have any suggestions, opinions, or answers to my questions, you can either review to answer, or send me a Private Message. And if you enjoy this story, I will update soon if I can; and please fav, review, and follow if I want more of Royal Remnant.**

 **SEEYA!**


	10. VIII Complications

**Yang Xiao Long**

* * *

The forest became more and more silent as I pressed on; walking north in hopes of finding the temple. The forest was never this silent earlier, it just felt so... Uncomfortable. No doubt that there were Grimm in here; they were practically _everywhere_. Nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Still, couldn't help but feel like there were eyes on me, _watching_ , _waiting_ , and then **BOOM**! They would just pop out of nowhere and attack me, kill me, eat me, or whatever they'll do to me. But hey, who says I won't find any? The only thing I was focused on was finding the temple, or at least a partner. Thinking back on partners, I wonder who could make a good partner;

Ruby? No, I love my baby sister, but at the same time she shouldn't need to rely on me all the time - she can't have me look out for her all the time, and besides, a different partner for her would be a good way for her to make new friends.

Blake? Maybe, although I don't think we have much in common; she likes books, and I like cruising on my motorcycle, dancing at shady clubs, and beating up bad guys. I'm a social kind of person, and she's just... _Silent_. Who knows, maybe she's pretty cool, and I just don't know it yet.

 **DEFINITELY** not Weiss (A.K.A. "Ice-Queen"). Not after the arguments between Ruby and her, I doubt she'd want to be partners with me, as much as I do. She's just so cold and careless, and I would **NEVER** want anything to do with her.

Oh! What about Promptoooo... In my eyes he's just so dreamy and handsome. Especially with his blonde hair - the way it just curves really reminds me of a Chocobo; a Chocobo's butt; a really _cute_ Chocobo's butt. Not to mention that he seems like a really good photographer after he showed us some of his pictures before.

There were just a lot of choices when it came to picking a partner, but there were always the pros and cons to each of them. But hey, the more the merrier. I didn't really care who it was, just as long as there was someone by my side. "Hellooooooo?!" I call out. No answer. "I anyone out there?! Hello?!" I stop and shrug "I'm getting bored here." No answer. I almost decide to stop looking and just head north before I heard the rustle of the bushes behind me. "Someone there?" I turn and head towards the bush where the rustling came from. My best guess, it was Ruby trying to sneak up on me and scare me. Well, no way was she going to get the drop on me **this** time. "Nice try, Ruby. You're not gonna get me... THIS TIME!" I swiftly move the branch of the bush and see who it was, only, it wasn't Ruby. "WHOA! Easy Yang!" Prompto exclaimed, startled. In his hands was his camera, and there was already an image of me taken on it. "I suppose that is what you deserve for _sneaking up_ on Ms. Xiao Long" Ignis states as he appears behind Prompto; arms crossed with a smug grin. "Oh? It's just you two guys?" "Yeah, sorry about that Yang." I exchange looks between him and his camera, and realization took over as I cross my arms as well with narrow eyes. "Were you **stalking** me?!" Prompto's face turns red and he answers "NO! I swear, I just wanted to take a few pictures for the day, and I thought you were the best to start." Sure, I may not have been fond of boys creeping up on me, but if it was for a photo, I wouldn't really mind, as long as I **knew** they were going to. I uncross my arms and my anger turned to slyness. "Well, I don't mean to sound like a critic, but next time, you can get my _good side_ " I smirked with a wink at the blonde photographer. The awkward reunion seemed to bothered Ignis a bit, so he cleared his throat and changed the topic; "so, Ms. Xiao Long, I presume you have yet to find a partner?"

"Yeah, still looking. Was hoping to find my sister here, but instead here are you two" I answered. "Hm. Well I have already been partnered with Prompto... It would be a matter of time before you find yours. If I recall, you were hoping to run into your younger sister Ms. Xiao Long?"

"Yeah, and please don't call me 'Ms. Xiao Long'. I don't really like the formalities."

"Of course."

"I just hope Ruby's okay. This is nothing like the initiations back at Signal and I don't know if she'll make it."

"Don't worry Yang" Prompto reassures me, "Ruby'll be fine. Besides, how could you doubt your own sister when she could take down a whole bunch of goon from robbing a Dust shop? With a GIANT SCYTHE?!" Had to give him that, Ruby could handle herself pretty well when it came to stopping a bunch of armed goons from a robbery? Even with said goons being hired by Roman Torchwick himself. "Good point. But still-" I was interrupted by the sound of more rustling coming from the bush behind us. We slowly approached it. "Ruby? Is that you?" As we reached the bush, I separated the branches to see who it was. Only to my despair, as I looked up at the towering black beast before me, I only realized that I made a mistake.

"... **nope**..."

Prompto and I dodge left as Ignis dodges right as an Ursa charged right at us from the bush. The beast stopped to a halt as it glared and snarled at us - the Ursa was bear-like, with matted black fur, sharp boney claws, large ivory spikes protruding from its back, and a white bone-like mask over its face with red tribal markings, and glowing red eyes that glared at the three of us. Ignis summoned his daggers and Prompto summoned his six-shot revolver. But before we could attack, another Ursa came out of nowhere, but we were lucky to dodge it as it came up from behind us. The two Ursai grouped together and prepared to attack us. I readied Ember Celica, and as the one of them tried to attack me; **BOOM!** I gave it a right hook to the stomach as the explosive shot knocked it back. The other Ursa tried to charge me but I knocked it back with a right uppercut and a kick. "You two wouldn't have seen a girl in a red hood would you?" One roared back at us, and Prompto blatantly replied "you could've just said no." As it charged and tried to slash back, I dodged, and flipped backwards as it slashed again. Prompto shot the beast in the chest and stomach a few times, before Ignis leaped overhead and stabbed the Ursa in the back with his twin dagger, before being knocked off and landing with me and Prompto. I chuckled, "jeez, you guys couldn't hit the broadside of a b-" I stop, as I watch a single lock of blonde hair float down from the air in front of me. That... That was my hair... _My_... **HAIR**! Prompto and Ignis notice me and lower their weapons. "Yang are-"

" _You_..." I shut my eyes, and all of my rage comes together. My eyes turn from their lilac colour to a burning red as I open my eyes once more. The two Grimm exchange looks of confusion and grunts. And finally...

" **YOU MONSTER!** "

I literally explode into a blazing fire as I ready Ember Celica and charge one Ursa; giving it a left hook and a right uppercut that shot it backwards. I point my fists to the ground and fire - launching me forward to the Grimm and give in even more punches; left and right hooks, followed by fiery uppercuts that kept launching it back, but there was no way I was going to let it get away so easily it was time to teach them a lesson for ruining my hair; whether if it was just a strand or not!

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

 **BANG!**

And finally...

 **BOOM!**

That last punch launched the Ursai into the trees - knocking them down and snapping them in half, creating a massive destroyed clearing in the forest. The destroyed trees caught on fire, and I doubt there was anything left of that Grimm. Just before I could celebrate, the other Ursa broke through the boys' defence, and charged to me. It growled at me. I growled back. " **WHAT?! YOU WANT SOME TOO?!** " "Yang!" Prompto warned me. It was soon about to let out another attack before the sound a sword slash, and the Ursa stopped in its tracks, and like a tree it tumbled down. Stabbed into it back was a pistol-blade, with a black ribbon attached on one end of the handle, and the other around the wrist of a pale, black-haired, yellow-eyed girl - Blake. Blake tugged her weapon back and caught it before sheathing it onto her back. And then she gave that very sly smile. It was the only time I ever saw her smile since yesterday. To be honest, never would've thought she was the smiling type. The four of us exchange silent stares.

"We could've taken em"

"Sure you could" Blake said with a smile as she hopped down from the dissipating corpse of the Grimm. "Come on, everyone else has a head-start." She moved onwards; north, I guess. And I followed my new partner, as well as the boys behind me. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

 **Third Person View**

"Hey Ignis..."

"Yes, Prompto?"

"Remind me to never get on Yang's bad side." The sudden thought made Ignis shiver in fear. " _Agreed_..." Just the thought of Yang fighting just seconds ago made Prompto and Ignis want to stay clear of Yang when she's angry. The two boys took a look back and saw the destruction left behind by Yang - reminding the boys to stay out of Yang's hair... _Literally_.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

With a massive swing of his greatsword with incredible strength, Gladiolus slashed at a Beowulf as it attempted to pounce and slash at him, which he parried with his shield and slashed back at it. Noctis on the other hand, threw his Engine Blade and struck the Beowulf in the blink of an eye as the blade sunk into the beast's skull, before he summoned a polearm and threw it at another Beowolf - impaling it. His aura and strength were slowly depleting and he felt like he would lose consciousness, but he didn't care, it felt exhilarating to finally fight, and he could care less if he felt tired. Weiss on the other hand, deflected the slashing strike of one of the wolf-like creatures and skidded to a halt, just after she was abkle to take down a couple of them. Looking around, she found that there were still a dozen of Beowolfs left, and they managed to cut down only a _fraction_ of them. Turns out that a pack was waking through the forest before they stumbled before the initiates before ambushing them. Fortunately, one of the initiates managed to leave before they were attacked, which more or less **infuriated** Weiss for her child-like behaviour of running off and leaving them behind. Gladiolus staggered as he luckily able to deflect a strike as one of the Beowulfs flanked him, and he and Weiss were back to back. Gladiolus growled as the fight continued on, and they were outmatched, before he eyed Noctis, who took down another Beowulf, and yelled "NOCT! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!" Noctis nodded before he warped and regrouped with Weiss and Gladiolus. Ten remained and circled around them with snarls and growls, and the initiates managed to only cut down a few of them out of a large pack. "God, there's just too many of them, and they keep coming!" Noctis argued, which Gladiolus responded "no kidding!" Their bickering annoyed Weiss, and she wanted the two boys to focus on the task at hand. "Enough bickering you two! Focus!" "Oh sure, whatever you say _Ice Queen_ " Gladiolus taunted her before Weiss stammered "HEY!" Turning to Noctis, Gladiolus asked "you got a vial of Fire Noct? 'Cause we're gonna need it!" Noctis nodded before reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a red vial - concocted with Fire Elemancy. "Got it!"

"Good! After I gave the go, throw it, and Weiss! Cover our backs and we'll have yours!" "Of course!" She responded. Gladiolus was no Ignis, but if he was right, then the blast radius would be more than enough to eliminate half their numbers and even the odds, and they would run in and take out the rest of them; just as long as the Prince and Heiress played along. "You guys better get ready!" Gladiolus readied his greatsword and summoned his shield once more - standing in a readied position. "Way ahead of you" Noctis tightened his grip on his Engine Blade, and twisted the Fire vial as one would suggest with a baseball. Weiss did not respond; only thinking to herself and readying herself ' _remember your training Weiss. Head up; shoulders back_."

"On my mark...!" Gladiolus says.

' _Right foot forward_ - _not **that** forward_ ' she took a step back. ' _Slow your breathing; wait for the right time to strike_.'

"And..."

' _And_...'

Weiss raised her rapier before revolving the cylinder to the Fire Dust.

"NOW!" Gladiolus yells as Gladiolus readies to charge towards the Grimm facing him, as Weiss swiftly shoots forward and aims her rapier at the Grimm facing her. Noctis readied himself to toss the vial of Fire at the large group of Beowulfs before him and eliminate them in a large blast. All would have been according to plan until...

A red blur came out of nowhere, and suddenly, Ruby appeared once again in a cloud of rose petals and swung her scythe at the unsuspecting Beowulf. "GOTCHA!" Unfortunately, that Beowulf was the same one Weiss was aiming at, and she was caught of guard - her eyes shot open and she stammered to prevent accidentally impaling Ruby, and as she stammered, she accidentally pulled the trigger and a blast of fire shot out from the barrel of her rapier and struck the trees - blowing up into a blazing ball of fire. Ruby glanced over her shoulder to see what happened, but the Beowulf slashed at her and knocked her back into Weiss, and her rapier was knocked out of her hands and hit the unsuspecting Lucian prince in the back of the head. He let go of the vial of fire, and it went into the opposite direction - Gladiolus' direction. Gladiolus noticed the vial of Fire fly over his head, and he barely had enough time to summon his shield to prevent getting caught in the explosive blast - taking out the Grimm in his direction, and also singeing his hair. Two sides of the forest clearing caught on fire, and they were still surrounded. "Hey, _watch it_!" Ruby scolded Weiss with a glare. " **Excuse me**! You attacked out of term, I could've **killed** you" Weiss explained glaring back, in which Ruby responded " _you're gonna have to try a lot harder that that_ " under her breath. "Enough talking ladies! We still gotta lot of them to deal with, so let's get to it" Gladiolus screamed, with his greatsword over his shoulder. The four hunters in trading found themselves still surrounded by a pack of Beowulves, including the large Alpha, who howled and growled amongst the rest of its pack. Noctis desummoned his Engine Blade and summoned his own greatsword - tightening his grip on the handle with his two hands. Ruby pressed the release switch of her weapon, and let the empty clip slide out as she pulled out another one from her pouch and reloaded it into her rifle, and with a swing of the scythe to her back, she cocked the rifle and was prepared to battle once more. But just as she was about to launch herself forwards, two of the trees toppled down in ablaze before them, and it was an immediate sign of the initiates to leave. Weiss hastily put a hand on Ruby's shoulder and warned "we have to go", just as she ran off from the fiery forest. "But-" Ruby protested in which Gladiolus yelled "RUBY! NO TIME TO ARGUE! RUN!" With no other option at hand, Ruby listened and proceeded to retreat with Weiss and regroup. Before they were out of the clear, Gladiolus sliced upwards and sliced a Beowulf down in half in the middle as it attempted to pounce at the escaping initiates; and all that was left was the distinctive sound of howls as the Beowulves; including the Alpha were caught in the blazing forest.

"Damn! Not exactly how we planned, huh?" Noctis asked as the four escaped to the northern hills and left the Grimm horde in the dust, or ashes to best put it. "No kidding! Didn't expect you to show back up kid!" Gladiolus exclaimed as he turned to Ruby. "Hey, well I prefer to _surprise_ my enemies!" Ruby answers, to which Weiss glared daggers at her. Once the four of were in the clear, they caught their breaths, and looked back at the forest behind them; thick smoke dissipated into the air and all that could be heard were the calls of birds as the scattered from the area, and the faint howls of Beowulves burning alive. Ruby turned to Weiss. "You mind telling what **THAT** was about?! That should've been easy!" "Well perhaps if you exercised just even the _slightest_ bit of caution, you would not have caused all of us to falter and set the forest on fire!" Weiss retorted, much to Ruby's confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm just surprised that someone who could talk so _much_ could communicate so _little_ during an encounter. _Especially_ when a the lives of two very important people are on the line."

"Well I'm sorry that you need _my_ help to fight. I'm just **fine** on my own!" The girls couldn't notice as Gladiolus anger grew as he continued to listen to their petty argument - he clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and narrowed his eyes; Noctis took a step back as to avoid confrontation with the large brute. "Well, congratulations on being the youngest _child_ to **sneak** your way into Beacon. _Bravo_." Weiss continued, taunting the younger girl who blatantly took the comment offensively. "W-wha-?! CHILD?! Who're you calling a CHILD?! _Princess_?!" Weiss offensively took the remark. "What?! How dare you! You... _Nuisance_!"

" _Daddy's Girl_!"

" _Underachiever_!"

" _Ice Queen_!"

" _Little Red Riding Hoo_ -!"

" **ENOUGH!** " Gladiolus erupted as he finally put his foot down. " **SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU**!" Weiss, Ruby, and Noctis stopped, quieted, and wide-eyed towards the enraged Gladiolus. Weiss stopped tormenting Ruby, and Ruby stopped fighting back against Weiss. Nobody moved a muscle, and nobody spoke as they stared at Gladiolus - red with anger, gritting his teeth, and breathing heavily in and out. A few more moments of silence, and Gladiolus angrily continued "if everyone would just shut the hell up and listen for one second! **RUBY** " he announced which Ruby flinched by the volume of his voice, "Weiss isn't wrong! You shouldn't have ran off and left us behind, only to show up out of nowhere when we weren't aware of you! You should've sticked with us instead of running off! You could've gotten yourself and **us** killed!" Ruby hung her head low, as Weiss instead felt victory for someone to take her side. "Hmph!" Weiss said with her arms crossed, "exactly! _Thank you_ Gladiolus." " **AND WEISS!** " Weiss winced. "Don't think for a second that you aren't at fault here as well!"

"Me? What have I done?"

"You have been taking everything out on Ruby ever since day one! Even when she tries to apologize you find a reason to hate her and get mad at her, when there is in fact, **NO REASON AT ALL!** " That is when Noctis stepped in, "he's got a point Weiss. Not everyone can be as _sophisticated_ as you. Nobody can be as _fancy_ as you. Nobody is like you, but you get mad at them for acting different than you or anybody back at Atlas."

"Well perhaps if they are **just** as sophisticated as I am, then there would be a much more better chance of excellent partnership and less fighting. I absolutely refuse to partner with this nuisance! It shalt and never will happen!" Gladiolus stepped back in and yelled "YOU SAY RUBY ACTS LIKE A CHILD?! You act like a little brat!" Weiss decided she's had enough of the crownsguard's _pointless_ lecture and put and end to it and continue with their mission. "And **you** act like a brute to just try to intimidate people, talk down to them, and get your way. Don't you? You think you are going to prove a point, but you are proving nothing, and are wasting our time when we could continue our initiation. Am I right?" Gladiolus grumbled as he stared down at the heiress and saw nothing but a brat, but his silence seemed to prove Weiss right. "Just as I thought" she said as she turned on her heel and proceeded down the forest, "now hurry, we are wasting time bickering here." Ruby followed suit; head still hung low, and left the two boys behind.

" **YAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!** " Gladiolus roared as he summoned his greatsword and took his anger out on a tree minding its own business; slashing it cleanly down by the roots and watched as it toppled down behind the group. He desummoned his weapon and growled " _I get so angry to get it into her thick skull, and she **still** refuses to listen_." Noctis avoided to touch the big guy, but wanted to reassure him nonetheless, "easy big guy, Weiss is a brat, but she's gonna learn that she cannot get her way all the time." The larger of the group ignored his reassurance and says "we're not here to be royal, bratty, or better than everyone else. We're supposed to be students, not royal, and she still acts like she's above everyone; like Ruby." Noctis glanced toward Ruby, and saw that she was still sad; keeping her head down and keeping her distance from Weiss as to not disturb her or get scorned by her again. ' _Poor girl_ ' he thought. Turning back to Gladiolus, he asked "don't you think that you were a little hard on Ruby though?" Gladiolus shook his head, "maybe, but I wasn't wrong about her messing up. She should've warned us. We could've got a good strike on them if she didn't show up suddenly. But still... She got transferred two years ahead, she's young, and she's got much to learn before she understands teamwork and how to be a hunter." "Yeah, but so do we." Gladiolus nodded, with a smile "exactly." Gladiolus had calmed down after a short while, although he would not forget about the fight between them. Noctis exchanged looks between the two girls, and asked "you think they'll get along? In the future?" "I don't know. Granted, they'll annoy each other once in a while, and not be happy about this, but give them time." Noctis nodded. He considered Gladiolus' answers, and thought of how right he was - about Ruby, Weiss, their partnership, and how everyone is supposed to be huntsmen; not anyone different or better. Gladiolus was so right, and he was beginning to have second thoughts about this choice he made. There was so much commitment, so many sacrifices and decisions to be made, and discipline to follow. It sounded like a heavy load. But at the same time, Noctis made a commitment in the first place to prove himself to his father to show how he would be ready to take his place as king of Lucis, and lead a better world safe from Niflheim, Grimm, or criminals. Noctis would not led down his _kingdom_ , Gladiolus would not let down his _king_ or the _prince_ , Weiss would not let down her _sister_ or _herself_ , and Ruby would not let down her _family_. But none of that mattered in the present - only in the future. All that mattered now was to reach the temple, finish their initiation, and be on their way to learn how to become future huntsmen.


End file.
